


ToYing with my Affections

by siophiefandom



Category: Pretty Little Liars
Genre: F/F, McMarin, Panna
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-01
Updated: 2017-07-01
Packaged: 2018-11-22 03:12:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 39,607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11371401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/siophiefandom/pseuds/siophiefandom
Summary: Hanna Marin befriends Paige McCullers after Paige gets dumped over the letter that she left for the Rosewood Police. Over time, their friendship develops into something more. This is a Panna (McMarin) story, rated T for some grown-up situations and behavior.Originally posted to fanfiction dot net, June 1-22, 2017





	1. Dark Days

Paige tightened her grip on the strap of her purse and lowered her head in determination. When she raised it again, it was covered by a defensive scowl; one that was sure to keep her detractors at bay.

This was the worst part; the walk through the open quad, to find an isolated seat to have her lunch.

Paige could have avoided the drama by taking her lunch in the cafeteria; the sanctuary of the bullied – those too afraid or too ashamed to eat out in the open. Paige had been one of them, her freshman year at Rosewood High. But those days were over. Paige was through hiding from her tormentor.

Out there in the quad, the was no place to hide; no way to avoid walking past the table where her ex-girlfriend's best friends would inevitably be sitting, watching.

Emily's friends had, of course, heard about the way Paige had humiliated herself on Emily's porch, declaring that she still loved Emily, only to be shot down. Not that they hadn't seen it coming. Paige should have seen it coming herself, in Emily's lies, her testiness, her denial of affection – all of which pointed to the fact that her feelings for Paige had gone cold. But Paige had been blinded by her own feelings. So even when the dead girl who had haunted their relationship from the beginning turned out to be very much alive, Paige still thought that she had a shot; that, somehow, competing with a memory would prove to have been more of a challenge than competing with the real thing.

At least Paige wouldn't have to worry about seeing Emily herself out there in the quad. Emily had made her choice. She was out of town with her ghostfriend, helping her to get through her counseling, in preparation for rejoining life with her classmates who had thought she was dead.

* * *

Paige took a deep breath, and, focusing on the flagpole on the other side of the quad (a trick she'd learned: If she an object and fixed her eyes on it while she walked, it would keep them from wandering to the people she wanted to avoid), she made her way across the concrete battlefield.

She could focus her eyes on the flagpole, but she couldn't keep her peripheral vision from picking up on the movement of a blonde head as she passed Emily's friends' table. Out of the corner of her eye, she distinctly saw the sad smile that had spread across the girl's lips.

That, Paige realized, was actually the worst: The pity. Paige could've handled their ridicule. Ridicule is what someone gives to a rival; a worthy opponent. Paige was used to that, having encountered it so often in sports. But pity is something reserved for losers.

_Fuck it,_ Paige thought. She had only one goal: Make it to the table and eat her lunch in peace.

Paige settled in at a table in the far opposite corner from the one where Emily and her friends always sat. She put an expression on her face designed to let everyone know that she didn't want company. To help make the point, she put her earbuds in and dialed up her "Depression" playlist as she ate with one hand and scrolled through a swimming blog that she was pretending to read with the other.

_Dreams last for so long  
Even after you're gone_

Once again, Paige's peripheral vision picked up on movement from Hanna's movement. This time, Hanna was moving away from her clique's table, headed in Paige's direction. Paige didn't flinch. She just continued to stare at her phone as Jewel kept singing.

_I know you love me  
And soon I know you will see_

Soon, Paige felt a shadow, where Hanna's body interrupted the rays of the sun from falling on the table. Still, she didn't flinch.

_You were meant for me  
And I was meant for you._

Paige picked up on the movement as Hanna's hand stroked a strand of hair behind her ear, and Hanna shifted her feet to redistribute her weight. Next, Hanna crossed her arms in front of her. She wasn't going anywhere. Paige, not bothering to remove her earbuds or turn down the music, twisted her head and scowled at her.

Hanna's expression was blank. Paige didn't see the pity that she had seen before; instead, Hanna looked concerned.

There was no misinterpreting how Paige looked. But Hanna wasn't scared off.

"How are you, Paige?"

"I'm fine," Paige snarled, her voice like the growl of a pit bull defending its master. Paige had lost count of the number of times she had been forced to say those words after Emily dumped her.

Hanna smoothed her skirt out beneath her and sat down next to Paige. "I just wanted you to know that the girls and I…" Her body tilted vaguely towards their table. "Well, we don't agree with the way Emily's been treating you." Hanna paused, as if waiting for Paige to thank her or acknowledge her or – something. Paige, though, had already said more than she intended to say to any of Emily's friends. Hanna looked down, unconsciously grabbing a napkin off the table and twisting it between her hands. "You have to understand," she explained, not looking at Paige. "There's a certain unwritten rule between us. We always support each other's… relationship choices. No matter how… questionable they may be." Hanna shrugged slightly, slightly ashamed.

Paige smirked, shaking her head slowly. That was rich, she thought, considering the way the trio had "supported" her and Emily, back when they were dead-set on convincing Emily that Paige was "A." As if reading her thoughts, Hanna put her hand on Paige's forearm. "Look, we don't always get it right, I guess," she said, with a nervous chuckle. "I _know_ ," she added quickly, correcting herself. Seeing the way that Paige was glaring at the hand on her forearm, Hanna slowly pulled it back. "I guess I just wanted to say… you know. Don't take our loyalty to Emily as a vote for her choices. We all know you got a raw deal."

Without saying a word, Paige turned her focus back to her phone. After an awkward, silent moment, Hanna shrugged and got up, heading back to her table.

Paige breathed again. She had accomplished what she needed to. She knew that Hanna wouldn't let it go forever, but her steely attitude had bought her at least a week or two without having to worry about another encounter with Hanna Marin.

* * *

"She needs to come out of that cocoon," Hanna said to neither of her lunch companions in particular as she stared at Paige, who was, once again, planted at a solitary table, staring at her phone with her earbuds in. "She needs to realize that all of that anger isn't going to win Emily back. It's not going to accomplish anything, other than destroying her own life."

"Hanna," Aria said with a note of caution, "This is between Em and Paige. We need to let them work it out."

Hanna tightened her lips, as frustrated as she was angry. "Paige is our friend, too. I just don't think it's right…"

"I agree with Aria," Spencer interrupted. "We've all made some stupid choices. How would you have felt if we'd made overtures to Caleb after you took up with Travis?"

Aria glared at Spencer, squeezing Hanna's hand for support. "I… I didn't mean," Spencer stammered. "Hanna, I know what you and Caleb have been through, and I…"

"I'm fine," Hanna said, with a look of defiance. "Caleb made his choices. And I made mine. And I choose to move on. And that's all I want Paige to do."

"Okay, Han," Aria began, "but don't you think…"

Hanna stood up, gathering her things. "She's our friend, too," she said, repeating, as she walked away, "She's our friend, too."

Hanna walked half the distance to the table which Paige had made her island before she turned aside, reluctantly. She realized that Paige needed a little space. Hanna was willing to give her that. Maybe not as much space as Paige wanted, but as much as she needed. No more than that.

* * *

"Hey Paige!"

Paige had gotten used to Hanna's sunny smile and cheerful greeting whenever she walked past the girls' table. What Paige never saw was the way that Hanna's smile dimmed after Paige passed them by, failing even to acknowledge Hanna or her companions.

"What is it with you and Paige?" Spencer asked with a scowl.

"I just think she deserves better," Hanna said, animatedly.

"Are you sure that's all there is?"

Hanna chuckled. "Yes, Aria. I mean, I'll admit that I respect the fact that she's a strong person."

"Yeah," Spencer droned, "they named a penalty…"

"Still?" Hanna scoffed. "I'm not even talking about that, Spencer. I mean, let's face it: Paige has had a lot of shit thrown her way – and, let's be honest, some of it came from us. But she survived. And she's still this sweet, thoughtful, caring girl…"

"Yeah," Spencer said mockingly, turning to look at Paige, who was sitting alone at her table with the expression of someone who was about to start strangling pigeons. "That sounds like Paige. Sweet. Thoughtful. Caring."

"She's just going through a dark time right now."

"Right. Like when she tried to drown..."

Hanna glared at her. "Don't you dare!"

Spencer put her hands up, backing away from the comment.

"You know how she feels," Hanna continued. "We all do. But you can't deny that she treated Emily like a queen. And she even treated us better than we…" Hanna sighed, letting the though hang. "That's not the real Paige," she said in conclusion, almost to herself.

* * *

Paige grunted, annoyed, as her phone buzzed for what seemed like the thousandth time. And, for the thousandth time, she rejected the call and flipped the phone back over, trying to refocus on her physics problem set. When the phone buzzed again, she set it to "Mute" before she flipped it over. That was a gesture of pure frustration. She flipped it over again and unmuted it. She didn't want to risk having that fight with Nick McCullers again, should he attempt to reach her when she had dared to have her phone on mute.

All of a sudden, Paige was startled by a banging against her window. It sounded as if a bird had crashed into it. She went over to investigate and saw Hanna smiling and waving, downstairs in the back yard. Paige gave her a good scowl before she closed the blinds. It wasn't long before there was another bang against the window. Apparently, Hanna's game was to throw rocks that were so big that Paige, fearing Hanna would break the window, would have to acknowledge her. Just as Paige headed over to the window, her phone buzzed again. Several times, in rapid succession.

**HM: ive got my charger. i can be out here all day  
HM: and ik where the electric plug is by the pool**

**Paigey: HANNA I SWEAR TO GOD!**

**HM: what? i just want to talk to you…**

Paige was angrily typing a reply when she gasped at the sound of her bedroom door opening. She turned around to see Hanna's smiling face. "Hey, Paige!" she said, as if she had done nothing wrong.

"Hanna," Paige snarled through gritted teeth, "what do you think you're doing in here?"

"Uh… you guys need to find a better place to hide your key," Hanna announced, holding it up as evidence. That fake rock ain't fooling anyone, girl!"

Paige let out a groan, rubbing the index and middle fingers of each hand in circles into her temples. "You can't just barge into my room like that! What if I had been naked?"

"Aww, Paigey?" Hanna surrounded Paige with a hug. Paige stood as straight as a board, her hands not wrapping around Hanna's body. "Is someone not getting any anymore?"

Paige's jaw dropped open in shock. "Sorry!" Hanna said blithely, obviously not sorry. "But you can't set me up like that!"

Paige dropped her shoulders and let out a deep breath, defeated. "Hanna, what do you want?"

"I just wanted to invite you to come take a study break with me."

Paige couldn't hold back a chuckle. "Have you even been studying?"

"This is not about me, Paigey. It's about you. Come on," she said, linking arms with her new, reluctant bestie. "We're getting you out of this room."

* * *

Paige noticed that there was the faintest of smiles on her face as she took another sip of her coffee. There was something calming about coffee with Hanna. Hanna had a way of talking about nothing as if it were everything. Paige didn't have to keep up her end of the conversation, really; just give a grunt every now and then to signal to Hanna that she was listening, and to encourage her to continue. Coffee with Hanna was therapeutic, in a way; although, in therapy, it's usually the patient who does all of the talking. But that was overthinking things. And coffee with Hanna had nothing to do with thinking. It was plain and simple, much like Hanna herself. With Emily, there always seemed to be so many layers of inference; hidden meanings behind everything that Emily said, and hidden interpretations by Emily of whatever Paige said. It felt like walking through a minefield. Paige constantly had the feeling that, if she said the wrong thing, her relationship would blow up in her face. It had happened more than once.

But coffee with Hanna was different. It was kind of nice having her as a friend, Paige mused, rather than just a friend-in-law.

Hanna hunched forward excitedly in her chair and clapped her hands together before she squeezed both of Paige's. "So, you'll do it? Really?"

_Uh oh._ Perhaps Paige should've been paying closer attention to what Hanna had been saying. She tried to rewind the conversation in her head to find out what she had apparently just agreed to.

Hanna relaxed back into her spot in the booth. "Spencer refuses to study with me," she complained, shaking her head in disgust. "She says I'm too distracting. But I say she just needs to learn to multitask. Anyway, it doesn't matter now, because I can study with you!" Hanna bounced in her seat, unable to contain her excitement. "And you're as much of a brainiac as Spencer, right? I mean, Stanford…" She gave Paige a knowing look.

Paige winced internally. At the same time, she felt that she had dodged a bullet. She imagined that there were worse things that she could have unwittingly agreed to than study nights with Hanna.

 

 


	2. A Day at the Races, a Night at the Movies

Paige and Hanna agreed to meet on Wednesdays for their study nights, after Paige's swim practice. It was a time that worked for Hanna, and that wasn't too horribly inconvenient for Paige, after she figured out a way to rearrange her whole schedule around it.

The first night, when Hanna showed up and started unpacking a stack of fashion magazines from her bag, Paige did her best to stifle a laugh. "Hey, what?" Hanna protested. "You're studying for school, but I'm studying for life!"

Hanna wasn't _too_ distracting. Still, she _was_ pretty distracting, though. She had the shortest attention span of anyone Paige had ever met, and she would just toss out whatever thought was going through her mind whenever things got too quiet for her liking. Paige learned to put up with it, realizing that Hanna just needed to feel connected. They weren't just together, studying; they were studying together. They may have been studying different things, but the whole point was that it was a shared experience .

Paige also learned that Hanna needed a lot of hugs. They didn't have to be particularly long or affectionate, but they had to be frequent. That kind of need was foreign to Paige, having grown up as Nick McCullers' daughter. Indeed, since the time that she and Emily broke up, Paige found herself subconsciously flinching whenever people got too touchy-feely, having lost a bit of her comfort-level with physical contact. Paige started to suspect that Hanna's constant attempts at connecting wasn't about her own needs, but that they were actually Hanna's way of trying to get Paige reconnected.

Whatever it was, Paige found herself looking forward to her Wednesday night study sessions with Hanna. They provided an oasis in the middle of her week, the way that swimming used to, in that brief period of time when she and Emily used to swim not just for training but for the fun of it. Back before things went bad, and Paige went back to training at night, to avoid Emily - and all of the attitude and awkwardness that being with Emily brought with it. Coach Fulton, of course, would have preferred it if her two best swimmers trained together, but she understood. The distraction would have outweighed the benefit.

* * *

Paige looked at the time on her phone and reluctantly concluded that it was time to to kick Hanna out. "I've got a big practice tomorrow," she explained, "before the meet against Ravenswood on Friday."

Hanna nodded pleasantly and began gathering her things together. Paige walked her downstairs and to the front door.

"Ravenswood's going to be crazy," Hanna remarked, leaning in the doorway.

"It always is." Not only was Ravenswood High their biggest rival, but, since the schools were so close, Ravenswood always sent a large contingent of fans to their meets, often drowning out Rosewood's fans in their home pool. "We're going to need a lot of support from the stands, if we're going to have a chance."

"Well, I'll be there to cheer you on." Hanna gave Paige's arm a rub.

Paige smiled. "It's okay, Hanna. I know you're going to be there for Emily."

"Emily?" Hanna scowled. "She's got her own cheering section, Paige. I'm going to be there for you."

Paige had been holding the door open as Hanna stood in the doorway, but she took her hand off of it and wrapped her arms around herself. "Seriously, Hanna, the last thing I want to do is to come between friends."

Hanna rolled her eyes. Paige wasn't the one who had come between her and Emily. But she didn't want to dwell on that. Paige had enough on her mind. "Just stop being such a martyr," she said, hoping she was using the word correctly, "and accept the fact that I'll be cheering for you on Friday, okay?"

Paige managed a smile and mouthed the word "Okay." Hanna cupped her left cheek and softly kissed her right cheek. "That's for luck." Paige smiled and dipped her head. Hanna stood looking at her for a second or two, as if she had something more to say, but, in the end, she tilted her head with a shy wave and turned to go. Paige's eyes followed her all the way out to her car. When Hanna was buckled in, she looked back at the door, happy that Paige was still standing there, and waved another good-bye. Paige lifted an arm off of her waist and waved back.

"Not going to lie," Paige said out loud to nobody. The thought remained unfinished, but it was something about how good it felt that there was going to be somebody there cheering for her.

* * *

Friday's meet was tightly contested, as everyone had expected it to be. Paige and Emily both won their individual races fairly comfortably, but Ravenswood was still hanging in when the final event, the 4x100 medley, came around. As the team lined up, Paige, the team's co-captain, and the anchor for the race, visited each of her teammates to get them a quick pep talk. She started with Emily, who was swimming the first leg, putting her hands on her shoulders and assuring her that she could do it.

Paige was in the zone. It didn't really feel like talking to her ex. It didn't feel like anything except what it was: Encouraging her teammate to swim a good race.

As the preceding race wound down and the swimmers were about to take their marks, Hanna yelled out a loud, "Let's go, Paige!" Three sets of eyes immediately focused on her: Paige and Emily's, from the pool area, and Emily's girlfriend's, from the stands. Hanna wasn't worried about anyone's eyes except Paige's. When Paige looked at her, she responded with a small wave that Paige returned on reflex. Paige's smile was a bonus. Hanna's attention-getting cheer had actually helped motivate her.

Emily knew why Hanna had cheered so loudly for Paige. It was a way of getting to her; of letting her know, in case there was any question, whose side Hanna was taking in the relationship wars. Emily glanced at her girlfriend, who blew her a kiss. That was all she needed. It didn't matter what her former best friend thought.

Emily got the team off to a fast start, easily beating the swimmer from Ravenswood. It seemed that Ravenswood was sandbagging a little, holding the stronger swimmer back from the first leg so that she could swim the second leg, to try to use the element of surprise to pull away in the race. By the time Paige jumped into the water for the anchor leg, she had some catching up to do. She was up to the task, bringing home the victory for Rosewood with just a fraction of a second to spare.

Amid the hugs and congratulations from the relay team and the rest of her teammates, Paige couldn't help looking up at Hanna in the stands. Hanna was on her feet, clapping with pride. When she saw Paige looking in her direction, she gave her the thumbs up and, putting her hands at the sides of her mouth as a megaphone, yelled a loud, "Yeah, Paige!"

* * *

'Hi, Paige," Hanna said softly, as usual, as Paige walked by.

As Paige approached the girls' table, she had been steeling herself not to smile. It was a losing battle, but she managed to hold it together, acknowledging Hanna's greeting by nodding her head, and only letting her smile show after she had safely passed the table by.

"I'll see you guys later," Hanna said, grabbing her handbag and walking quickly to catch up with Paige. Paige looked over at her with a smile when Hanna linked their arms. Paige pulled out her earbuds when she sat at what had become her usual table. Hanna sat next to her. "How's it going, Paigey?"

Paige rolled her eyes at the name. "I'm good. How are you?"

"Good…" Hanna's eyes lit up. Guess what! I'm going to the movies on Friday!"

"Really?" Paige was only half-pretending to be interested.

"Uh huh," Hanna assured her confidently. "You're taking me."

Paige chuckled. "I am?" Hanna nodded, assuring her that she was. "And what movie are we going to see?"

"'Everything, Everything.'"

"Oh, the uh… the one with the sick girl and the dude who kidnaps her?" Hanna rolled her eyes at Paige's reduction of what she considered to be a beautiful, tragic romance, but nodded. "No, no, nooooo," Paige chuckled, putting her hands up and shaking her head. "I don't think so."

"Well, I do! When was the last time you even went to the movies?"

"That's just it, Hanna – I don't really go to the movies. Especially not sappy, mushy rom-coms like that."

"Well, you do now!" Hanna announced confidently. "You're taking me."

Paige opened her mouth to protest, but Hanna's eyes shut her down. "Fine," she said, trying her hardest to make her voice reflect just how unwilling a party she was to this plan. "When am I picking you up?"

* * *

Paige did her best to hang in there with the movie, for Hanna's sake. After all, Hanna had really been there for her, after her break-up with Emily. Still, sitting through the movie was basically torture for Paige. She couldn't help ridiculing it and pointing out plot inconsistencies as they watched, much to Hanna's chagrin. The bruises on Paige's arms testified to how much her comments were irritating Hanna.

Hanna had produced a full-sized box of Kleenex from her purse – not one of the small, travel packs that are made specifically to fit into a purse or a pocket, but an actual cardboard box of tissues. How she had managed to get the whole thing into her purse was a mystery to Paige, who was also baffled by the fact that Hanna went through almost the entire box. By the end of the movie, she was clinging to Paige for support, her left hand tightened around Paige's right arm, while she dabbed at her eyes with her right hand.

Paige was confused. She didn't think of Hanna romantically, and she knew that Hanna didn't think of her that way, either. She wasn't confused about any signals Hanna might have been sending. She had seen Hanna wrapped around Emily in similar fashion, so she knew that it was just Hanna being Hanna, clingy and emotional. What had Paige confused was the feelings that she, herself, was starting to feel as Hanna leaned into her, her head on her shoulder, trying to hold it together. Paige definitely felt something, but she wasn't sure what. The only feeling that she could compare it to didn't make any sense, given that Hanna was just a friend, and a straight friend at that. Perhaps it was just her typical protectiveness. After all, Hanna had moved into her inner-circle, and Paige was profoundly protective of her friends.

But it certainly felt much deeper than that. In the end, Paige put it down to loneliness, and the fact that she missed the feeling of being with someone. She scrunched her lips together, summoning her willpower. What she was feeling was totally unfair to Hanna. She steeled herself in her seat, determined not to take advantage of the situation.

Despite what Paige expected, the ride home wasn't awkward at all. Hanna ran through the highlights of the film, as if Paige hadn't been there to see it with her, and Paige grunted and grumbled over having to relive the movie. Hanna couldn't help smiling at the way Paige was protesting, especially since Paige's face was telling a different story. As much as Paige hated sitting through the movie, she was enjoying Hanna's enthusiasm about it.

Paige turned towards Hanna with a serious look on her face when she pulled into her driveway. "Are you sure you're going to be okay?" she asked without cracking a smile. "I know this was an emotional night for you."

"Ha ha." Hanna spread her arms out wide, and Paige obligingly fell into them. "Thanks for coming with me," she said softly, adding, as the hug ended, "I know it wasn't your thing."

"No, it really wasn't," Paige said through a smile, "but thanks for getting me out of the house. It was fun not to have to think about anything for a couple of hours."

* * *

"Paige!" Hanna jogged to catch up with Paige in the parking lot. "Hey – headed home?" Before Paige had a chance to answer, Hanna had caught up and was walking next to her. "Do you think I could get a ride? I was supposed to ride home with Spencer, but she got stuck in some student council thing." Hanna shook her head at Spencer's priorities.

"Umm, sure, I guess," Paige said. "Only, I'm not going straight home. I have to stop and pick up a check from my Mom and get it to the bank before it closes."

"Okay," Hanna said eagerly. As she walked to Paige's car with her, she added, "I don't think I've ever met your mother."

"Nobody has," Paige chuckled. "Most people think she doesn't actually exist."

Paige pulled into a parking space at a strip mall, turned off the engine, and put her hands in her lap. Hanna took a quick look at the stores, wondering where Paige's mother worked.

Paige had a serious look and a serious tone when she spoke. "Just… fair warning: My Mom may be a little…" She paused, trying to come up with a polite-sounding adjective. _Rude? Hostile? Obnoxious?  
_

"A little?" Hanna prodded.

Paige sighed. "Look, when my Mom sees you with me, she's going to assume that we're together." Hanna smiled deviously, as Paige quickly added, "And I swear I didn't tell her that, she just assumes that any woman I hang out with is someone I've got a thing for."

The thought that Paige would've told her mother that they were together hadn't entered Hanna's mind, but she didn't dwell on that. "So, she's going to resent me for trying to replace Emily?"

"No, she's going to resent you for not having a penis." The annoyance in Paige's tone was for her mother, not for Hanna.

"But I thought you and your parents worked all that shit out?"

"Yeah. We did. Sort of. I mean, she loves me, but… Well, let's just say, she can be pretty hard on any girl I bring home."

Hanna grabbed Paige's hand and leaned in so close that her lips were almost touching Paige's ear. "We should mess with her! Let's pretend we're dating," she cooed, playing with Paige's hand.

Paige laughed at the thought. "Well, as fun as that sounds," she said sarcastically, "let's not. Believe me, it's hard enough dealing with her giving her any more ammunition." Paige freed her hand from Hanna's grip and climbed out of the car. Hanna bounced out of the other side, smoothing her top back into place over her hips. Paige tilted her head towards a catering establishment, and they headed towards it. Growing up in Rosewood, Hanna had seen the shop, "Grandma Becky's Perfect Platters," all the time, but she had never been inside.

Hanna was enthralled by the smell as soon as Paige opened the door. "Mmmm!" She couldn't help squeezing Paige's arm in delight at the scent. "Your mom's a caterer?"

"Yeah. The owner, actually. She worked in the dining halls in college, and – long story short, my Dad bought this business for her after she got her MBA."

"Oh. So, your mom's not 'Grandma Becky'?"

"No," Paige asserted, "and please don't say the word 'Grandma' too loud in here. I don't want to have the 'What about grandkids?' fight over my 'life choices' again!" Paige scoffed.

There were stacks and stacks desserts looking as if they were about to be boxed up and loaded for delivery, but Hanna didn't see anyone working in the shop. After a bit, someone came from the back, boxed up a pair of cakes without so much as acknowledging Paige or Hanna, and took the boxes out through the door behind the counter. Hanna thought the woman looked a little young to be Paige's mother. It seemed odd that the woman, whoever she was, hadn't even acknowledged them.

"I texted my Mom," Paige explained. "She should be out any minute."

Hanna nodded and started to wander around the shop, her hands clasped behind her back as looked at all of the delicacies. Paige followed behind her warily, panicking when Hanna got too up close and personal with a red velvet cake.

"Don't touch it!" Paige whispered urgently, smacking Hanna's hand away. Hanna slowly reached under Paige's hand, playfully making another couple of attempts to swipe a sample of the frosting. "Hanna!"

"I'm only kidding, Paige!" Hanna rolled her eyes. "Jeez, do you really think I'd stick my finger in a work of art like that?"

"Oh..." Paige was able to breathe again. She was still learning how to handle Hanna's sense of humor. "Okay," she said, relaxing just enough for Hanna to seize the opportunity to reach around her and swipe a lick of frosting. Paige gasped in shock. Hanna gasped, too.

"Oh, shit!" she whispered, when she saw that, by moving so fast as she tried to catch Paige off guard, she ended up swiping a bit more than she had intended to. She made a half-hearted effort to smooth the top of the cake back into something presentable, cringing comedically as she did. Paige just shook her head.

"Admit it," Hanna teased, offering Paige a taste of the residue of the frosting that was left on her finger, "you have fun with me!"

Paige declined the offer of frosting, but there was no denying the truth of what Hanna had said. Not with the big, toothy grin that was, somehow, forming on Paige's face. She _was_ having fun; something that she wasn't used to anymore. Certainly not since the break-up.

Suddenly, they heard the sound of someone judgmentally clearing her throat behind them. Paige stood up stiff as a board. Hanna quickly hid her finger, which had still been up near Paige's lips, behind her back. They hadn't been doing anything that they needed to hide from Paige's mother, but they were certainly acting as if they had.

"Hello, Mrs. McCullers." Hanna discreetly wiped the frosting off of her finger onto the back of her jeans before she extended her hand to Paige's mother, showcasing her best manners. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

Paige's mother scrunched her nose to move her glasses in place so she could look Hanna up and down. She turned to glare at Paige, who nervously cleared her throat. "Um, Mom, this is Hanna."

Paige's mother raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Oh," she said dismissively, once the name registered. "The study buddy." It took all that was in Hanna not to burst out laughing.

Mrs. McCullers hadn't made air quotes with her fingers, but Hanna could hear them in her tone. Part of her wanted to cozy up to Paige, just to mess with her mother. If it had only been about Mrs. McCullers, she would have, but Paige had already made it clear where she stood on the subject. Hanna wasn't going to stir up any trouble for her.

"Yes," Paige began. "She's one of…"

"Simone!" Paige's mother yelled in the direction of the back room, "Grab that check from my desk! The one for my daughter."

Paige snuck Hanna a sad, apologetic smile. Simone emerged from the back room with an envelope which she handed to Paige's mother, who handed it to Paige. Before Paige could say thank you, her mother asked, "You're okay on your own for dinner tonight?" and turned back to the storeroom, not bothering to wait for an answer. Paige tried to laugh it off. Hanna rubbed her back sympathetically.

* * *

"Why don't we go get a burger after the bank?" Hanna offered as they buckled themselves in and Paige started the car.

Paige smiled knowingly. She knew that Hanna was trying to make her feel better after the coldness of the encounter with her mother, and she appreciated it, but it wasn't necessary. "You don't have to come to the bank with me," Paige said. "I have time to drop you off first."

"I'll go with you," Hanna volunteered cheerfully. "My Mom's out tonight, too, so I was going to get a burger anyway."

"Okay," Paige said with a pleasant shrug.

When they got to their booth at the Shake Shack, Hanna sat on the same side as Paige, instead of across from her. Paige thought it a little unusual, but she didn't mind. At least, with Hanna next to her, she didn't have to worry about maintaining eye contact and pretending to be interested when Hanna started to go on and on, as she invariably did.

Paige soon discovered the reason for Hanna's choice of seats. She kept reaching over to help herself to Paige's fries, even though she had fries of her own. At first, she did it playfully; pretending to sneak them without Paige noticing, but, as they started talking, Hanna reached for fries from her bag just as often as she reached for fries from Paige's. It seemed to Paige that this was all part of Hanna's need for communal activities; that they weren't truly sharing a meal together unless they were literally sharing. It fit in with the pattern she had seen in Hanna in the time that they had been friends. She was all about doing things together.

Their conversation was unremarkable until the meal was over, at which point Hanna wrapped her arms around Paige's arm and sighed, "It sucks, being single, doesn't it?" Before Paige could say that Hanna didn't need to worry about her, because she was doing all right (which wasn't a total lie), Hanna continued. "You know the worst part?"

Paige realized that this wasn't about _her_ being alone, but about Hanna. She gave her hand a comforting squeeze.

"The worst part is eating alone," Hanna said, in answer to her own question. " _Being_ alone. No one to talk to or listen to." Hanna put her head on Paige's shoulder. "I don't think I realized how much I missed that until tonight."

It took Paige a moment to figure out what Hanna was talking about. She knew, of course, that Hanna didn't like to be alone, but she almost never was. After all, she had lunch with Spencer and Aria every day, and, on their study nights, she often talked the things she and Mona did together. But, Paige realized, Hanna was talking about something different: Spencer had Toby, and Aria had Mr. Fitz. Even Mona, from what Paige gathered, had something going on with Mike Montgomery. Paige and Hanna were the only single ones.

Paige tilted her head, letting it rest on top of Hanna's for a moment. She puckered her lips and gave a kiss to the air in front of them in solidarity. "We single gals have to stick together," she announced.

Hanna nodded against Paige's shoulder, and they enjoyed their friendship moment. After a few seconds, Hanna sat up and sighed, "Well, I guess you've got some laps to swim or something tonight."

"Or something," Paige echoed. She really didn't want to leave, but she knew that Hanna was right.

* * *

Hanna put her hand on top of Paige's and smiled a thank-you before she got out of Paige's car. Paige followed her with her eyes as she got out of the car and headed to her front door. When she turned around on the sidewalk for a wave good-bye, Paige rolled down her window. Hanna slowly walked back to the car, so that she could hear what Paige had to say.

"Seriously, Hanna," Paige said softly, "whenever you want some company, just give me a shout, okay?"

Hanna smiled, nodding her head, and leaned through the window to give Paige a hug. "You, too, okay?" Paige nodded and smiled.

Hanna gave a final wave as she opened the door to her dark house. Paige put the car in gear and headed back to Rosewood High, for her night training.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N - I just wanted to mention that the business with Hanna tasting the cake was based on a scene at an art exhibit in the movie, "ToY," the movie that inspired me to write this fic. Credit where credit is due, you know... :)
> 
> One more note (for you youngsters out there...): The title for this fic is based on the titles of two "Queen" albums from the 1970s, "A Night at the Opera" and "A Day at the Races," which, in turn, were named after two Marx Brothers movies from the 1930s...
> 
> Thanks for reading! :)


	3. Model Behavior

"I should dress you up!"

Hanna tossed out the phrase in the middle of one of their study sessions, and Paige responded as she had learned to respond when she was deep in thought and Hanna was spouting off: She grunted, not bothering to look up.

"No, seriously," Hanna said, bouncing off of Paige's bed and bounding over to the desk where Paige was studying. She pulled Paige's hair up behind her head, to get a view of the shape of her face, and repeated, "I want to dress you up!

"Hanna," Paige said wearily, "I don't need to be dressed up. My style suits me just fine!"

Hanna sighed, annoyed. "Don't worry, Paige," she said condescendingly. "I'll be respectful of your…" Hanna made a face and waved her hands dismissively at Paige's outfit. "… _style_."

"Umm… Hanna…"

"And, anyway, this isn't about what _you_ need. This is about what _I_ need. I don't have anyone like you in my portfolio."

"Like… me." Paige said, resignedly putting her pencil down between the two pages that her book was opened to, to mark her place. "You mean lesbian?" Paige said, raising her eyebrows in mock shock.

"No, Paige. I mean your body type. You know – a jock!"

"Oh, really? You need a jock?"

"Yes, a jock! I know how to dress waifs," Hanna droned impatiently. "I know how to dress curvy girls. I just need someone with a little more…" Hanna raised her biceps in a muscle pose. "Oomph!"

"Hanna," Paige said wearily, "you know I'm not a model."

"Are you kidding me Paige?" Hanna held out her hands for Paige and helped her out of her chair. She took a step back and looked her up and down. "You're fucking gorgeous!" Paige shook her head, about to protest. "I'm serious," Hanna insisted. "If I were into girls, you'd be at the top of my list."

Paige chuckled rather than scoffing. "Well, I'm flattered," she said sarcastically, "but you know what I'm saying. You know I don't know the first thing about modeling, right?"

"Don't worry about it. The pressure's all on me, not you. All _you_ have to do is make my clothes look good. I, on the other hand, have to make _you_ look good in my clothes!"

Paige was confused, but she was learning not to think too hard about the things Hanna said. Hanna had a different way of processing things; an alternate wisdom, as hard for Paige to understand as Paige's logic must've seemed to Hanna.

Hanna had stepped in closer, with her hands behind her back and a pleading expression. "Please?" Paige took a deep breath, indicating that her defenses were starting to crumble. Hanna was quick to pounce, smiling energetically as she added, "It'll be fun, I promise!"

Paige had a hard time believing that it would be fun, but she decided that it couldn't be worse than the endless nagging that she was in for until she gave Hanna her consent. "Okay," she reluctantly told her.

* * *

Paige opened the door to the studio space that Hanna had been allotted in the art department with a bit of anxiety. Fortunately, Hanna was the only one there. She was as concerned about not letting anyone see her designs as Paige was about not letting anyone see her dressed up in whatever Hanna designs Hanna came up with.

There were bolts of cloth everywhere. Paige wasn't even sure where she had learned the word, "bolt," but she figured that's what they were. There were about a half dozen headless mannequins made out of Styrofoam scattered around the space. All of them had hourglass figures and were covered in pins and in outfits that were in various states of completion. And there were mirrors; everywhere she turned, Paige saw herself reflected in full-length mirrors.

In the middle of it all stood Hanna, holding court. She had on a baggy pair of sweatpants and a striped, button-down shirt, with only the middle three buttons done. Its long sleeves were rolled up just above her elbows, and it was a few sizes too big. It looked as if it might once have been one of Caleb's.

In that oversized shirt, Hanna looked like a kid playing dress-up. The parallel wasn't lost on Paige.

Hanna's hair was up in a messy bun, in a way that Paige had never seen before. From what Paige could see, it appeared that Hanna didn't have any makeup on. Paige couldn't help smiling at the whole spectacle. It felt as if she were getting a backstage view of Hanna, a view that few people were ever privileged to see.

Hanna was smiling, too. It wasn't a welcoming smile or an apologetic, "Are you sure you're up for this?" smile. It felt more like a "Here we go" smile, signaling the start of a shared adventure.

Hanna had Paige stand on a small round platform. She walked around her with a large artist's sketch pad in which she was drawing with swift, bold strokes. It was a skill that Paige hadn't known that Hanna had.

Paige, though she was fully clothed, felt exposed standing there like that. She didn't know what to do with her hands, and she ended up alternating between resting them on her on hips and letting them hang limply at her sides as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other. She let her head lean back and blew out a puff of air. She could tell that she was in for a long night.

Hanna took some rough measurements and jotted down some notes. She held some swatches of fabric up to Paige's face, scrunching her nose or smiling as she judged their suitability. Finally, she pointed Paige to a screen, directing her to strip down to her underwear. Paige stepped behind the screen while Hanna went off to cut and sew.

Paige wasn't sure whether or not Hanna wanted her to come out from behind the screen, so she stood behind it and awaited further instructions. She was shivering a bit, as much from nerves as from the temperature of the room. She tensed up a little when she heard Hanna walking quickly towards the screen. Hanna reached behind it with a top and pair of pants, both crudely cut and pinned together, telling Paige to put them on.

Paige changed into her new outfit and stepped tentatively out from behind the screen. "Um, Hanna? They're a little big."

Paige recognized the look that she was getting from Hanna. It was the same, "Are you kidding me?" look that Paige often found herself making when she was helping Hanna with her math homework. Hanna took her hand and led her back to the pedestal to proceed with the fitting.

* * *

"Ow!" Paige exclaimed, instinctively smacking at Hanna's hand.

"Hold still!" Hanna chided, squaring Paige's shoulders back into position.

"Well, stop sticking pins in me!"

Hanna rolled her eyes. "I thought you were supposed to be some super jock! No pain, no fame!"

"Hanna…"

"Hold still!" Hanna swatted at Paige's shoulders.

Paige groaned helplessly. "I still don't get why you couldn't find someone else to do this," she whined weakly.

"I told you," Hanna said, concentrating on what she was doing, not on Paige's question. "I needed a jock."

"Well, what about Spencer? Or Em…ily."

Paige hadn't thought about what she was saying until the name was halfway out of her lips. It hung pathetically in the air between them.

"Spencer's like a lean jock. I told you, I need a model with more _oomph!_ **"** Hanna squeezed Paige's strong shoulders for emphasis. Paige squirmed a bit at the touch, but immediately snapped back into position before Hanna could warn her to keep still again. "And, Emily… well." Hanna gave a sad smile and shrugged her shoulders. "Emily and I don't really talk anymore. Not since she started seeing…"

There was no need to say the name. Neither one of them particularly wanted to hear it.

Paige nodded her head, acknowledging that she understood why Emily and Hanna no longer talked. But then she remembered. "But what about your unwritten rule? You know, you girls always stick together, despite your relationship choices?"

Hanna shrugged. "I don't know." She thought it over, crouching onto one knee as she adjusted the hem on the slacks. "I guess it… I guess it doesn't count, when the person your friend is dating is the person the rule was supposed to protect you from." Paige tightened her lip as she tried to process that statement.

"Yeah, I noticed that Em doesn't eat with you guys anymore." Paige was trying to sound nonchalant, but she really wanted to know where Emily was spending her lunches. She had a hunch, and there had been rumors, but she wanted to know for sure.

"They've been eating in Ms. Montgomery's class," Hanna explained as, crouching at Paige's feet, she redistributed some pins around the hem of the slacks. "It was supposed to be temporary, just until they felt that it was safe for her to face the general population again, but somehow, 'a week or two' became..."Hanna trailed off, shaking her head, annoyed. She didn't want to linger on that topic, though, so she let it drop abruptly. "Okay," she said, standing up with a genial slap of Paige's ass. She faced Paige and pulled down the front of the blouse that she was constructing. "For this one, I'm going to need you to lose that bra."

Paige tilted her head, raising her eyebrow with a suggestive smirk.

"Oh, grow up, Paige!" Hanna pulled down the straps of Paige's bra impatiently. "I'm a professional!" Paige cupped her breasts in her hands until Hanna pulled the top back in place over her newly braless breasts. "If you want to be a model…"

"And I don't," Paige cut in.

Hanna sighed. "Okay. But you're a jock. Seriously, you have your boobs out in the locker room all the time." Paige chuckled at the oversimplification. Hanna futzed with the shoulders of her creation. "Well, that's not going to work," she said to herself, pulling the top down again. It was quickly replaced by Paige's hand-bra again.

Hanna crossed over to a row of cabinets lined up against the wall, opening one of them to reveal shelves full of canvas bins. "Seriously," she said, rummaging through a couple the bins, "I never got what the big deal with tits was anyway." Hanna grabbed her own chest for emphasis as she said the word, even though she was facing away from Page. After a bit more searching, she turned around, holding a piece of cardboard packaging with two disposable, stick-on bra cups affixed to it. She pursed her lips and shook her head, turning back towards the bins because she had decided that the size and color weren't a match. "I mean, it's basically just the nipple that everyone one gets so worked up about. And dudes show their nips all the time. And some of them," she muttered into the cabinet, "have boobs bigger than mine!"

"Yeah." Paige, feeling nervous and exposed, decided to play along, to take her mind off the fact that she was standing in the middle of the room, topless. "Plus, they're all hairy, and... ick! What's up with that?"

Hanna shot Paige a demure smile as she approached her with a pair of cups that she thought would do the trick. "Well, actually," she admitted almost guiltily with a wink, "I have to say, I don't mind a bit of man-hair."

Paige tilted her head, non-judgmentally. "To each her own..."

"Yeah," Hanna chuckled. Getting back to the task at hand, she asked, "What are you, like a C?" and handed page the cups. "Here. Try these."

Paige used her left forearm to cover her breasts as she took the piece of cardboard in her right hand, holding it by its corner as if holding a dead rodent by its tail, not wanting it to touch her body. The expression of disgust on her face was like that of someone looking at a dead rodent, too. She stared at the cups for a while like a child who had been handed a Rubik's cube; something new and exciting that she had no idea what to do with.

Hanna sighed, rolling her eyes at Paige's uselessness. Taking the cardboard packaging out of Paige's hand, she eased Paige's arm away from her chest and peeled off one of the cups, securing it under Paige's left breast and running her finger along the bottom to stick it into place. Paige leaned her head back and stared at the ceiling, deliberately ignoring what was going on as Hanna stretched the top of the cup over her breast and pressed it into place. Before Paige could attempt to replicate the procedure on her right breast, Hanna was securing the other cup into position. It was just faster that way, she decided.

"Now," Hanna said, pulling the top back over Paige's shoulders and taking a couple of steps back with a smile, admiring her work – not to mention the model who was showcasing it. "That's better!" She approached Paige again, running her hands along the contours of her waist. "I can even take it in right here, since you have nothing there at all…"

"Hey!" Paige protested.

"I'm not talking about your abs," Hanna said condescendingly, taking advantage of the opportunity to pat her palm against Paige's rock-hard abs. "I'm talking about this," she said, running her index fingers down Paige's sides, to show the way that they tapered. It tickled, and Paige squirmed away, laughing. Hanna tilted her head and smiled to herself.

"What's so funny?"

"Emily… never mentioned that you were ticklish." Hanna's voice was soft and halting, and she bit her lip shyly. Actually, Emily had flat out told Hanna that Paige wasn't ticklish. Either Emily had been covering for Paige, or – what Hanna wanted to believe – she had just discovered something about Paige that even Emily didn't know.

"Okay," Hanna announced, all business again, patting Paige's waist, where her palms somehow still found themselves. "Take this off and go get dressed."

"Oh." Paige was surprised – and a little disappointed – that it was over. "That's it?"

"Uh huh," Hanna said through a yawn. "That's it for tonight. Next week," she said with another yawn, scratching her head, "you'll come back for the final fitting." She smiled at Paige, and Paige smiled back before she turned and headed for the screen.

* * *

As they headed out to the parking lot, Paige realized that she and Hanna were holding hands. She wasn't sure when it had happened or who had started it. She was pretty sure that it had been Hanna, though. Hanna was always very much into physical contact, as Paige had learned not just from their time as friends, but also from seeing her with Emily. Maybe, Paige surmised, it was Hanna's way of making the point that she wasn't weirded out about touching a friend who was into girls.

Whatever the reason, Paige didn't mind.

Hanna must have picked up on Paige's thoughts, because she gave her that quick squeeze that people do when they're about to let go of someone's hand.

"We're friends, aren't we?"

Paige had gotten to know Hanna well enough to understand the question. Hanna wasn't backing away from the fact that they had been holding hands, asking the question as a way to reassure Paige that they were only holding hands as friends. She was simply stating a fact, in the form of a question. Hanna liked to celebrate things like that – the fact that she and Paige were friends – and she often did so by sharing a question about it. That way, they could celebrate together. And Paige realized that she, too, felt like celebrating it. She was glad for the friendship that had grown between them.

Paige's car was a few rows away from Hanna's, but, without really thinking what she was doing, she walked Hanna to her car. Hanna gave her a hug before getting into the car, thanking her for her help.

"I had fun," Paige admitted. _I always have fun with you,_ Paige thought but didn't say.

Hanna's face lit up. "See? I told you!"

When Hanna pulled her legs into the car, Paige shut the door. She stood beside Hanna's car, waving as Hanna pulled off into the night.

Hanna only pulled forward a yard or so before she put on the brakes and put the car into reverse. When she got back to where Paige, confused and a little concerned by the maneuver, was standing, she rolled down her window. "Do you want a ride?" she asked coyly.

"My car's right there," Paige chuckled, pointing in the direction of her car.

"Get in!" Hanna's face was full of laughter. Paige climbed into the passenger's seat, and Hanna gave her a two-second ride to her car, pulling up so that her passenger door was next to the driver's door of Paige's car. "Last stop!" she called out like a bus driver. "Everybody out!"

* * *

Paige sat in her car for a moment, smiling to herself and tapping her key against the palm of her hand. She was taking a moment to savor the evening and to process everything that had happened. The fitting had been quite a touching experience - in the literal sense. Paige knew not to make too much out of all of the physical contact that went into the tailoring process, of course. Still, she couldn't help feeling more connected to Hanna, on a friendship level. Also, not all of the touches had been strictly tailoring-related. There were the times Hanna touched Paige's cheek to check that she was all right or to assure her that it wouldn't be much longer. There were Hanna's hands on her waist. And, of course, there was the mysterious hand-holding on the way to the car.

A toot of Hanna's horn jolted Paige back into the present. She waved over to Hanna's car, to let her know that she was okay, and then started her car up, looking over her shoulder as she backed out of the parking space.

* * *

"Paige!" Out of the blue, Paige felt herself being yanked out of the hallway and into a classroom. Or, as it turned out, into Hanna's studio space.

"Hanna, what the hell?"

"Hey!" Hanna said, ignoring Paige's protest. "I finished my creation! Are you ready to try it on?"

"Now?" Paige shouted incredulously. "I'm on my way to class, Hanna!"

"Oh, please," Hanna said dismissively. She let go of Paige's hand which she had been sandwiching between her hands since she pulled her inside. "It's not as if you've never skipped class before!" Hanna caught the sheepish look in Paige's eye. "Oh, no…" She took Paige's hand again, giving it a quick squeeze. "Don't tell me: You've actually never skipped class before?"

"Well, I…"

"I bet you've never even missed a class in all of high school!"

"Yes, I have!" Paige protested, trying to hold onto a bit of street cred.

"Okay, not counting swim meets," Hanna said condescendingly.

"Fine," Paige admitted. "I haven't. And I can't today, because I've got a physics test!"

"So? You can make it up!"

"I can't just 'make it up'!"

"Paige," Hanna said sternly, "there's always a make-up exam. What if you started vomiting violently during lunch?"

Paige raised her finger argumentatively. "But I didn't start vomiting violently during lunch!"

"Yeah, I know! But my point is still valid - they give make-up exams!"

"Oh, fine, whatever! This conversation is making my brain hurt!"

"See?" Hanna tilted her head with a knowing smile. "I knew there was a badass Paige hiding in there!" Hanna pulled Paige further into the studio. "Paige McGangsta," she said teasingly as she started pulling Paige's sweater over her head.

"Hey, easy!" Paige tugged the sweater back down over her waist, tilting her head towards the dressing screen.

"Oh, right!" Hanna said. "You go get out of those things and I'll go get my creation." As she headed for one of the closets, she called over to Paige, "Do you still have that bra I let you borrow last week?"

"That rubber thing?" Paige panicked, peeking out from behind the screen. "Oh, shit! I threw it out, Hanna!"

Hanna's draw dropped. "Are you serious?"

"I swear, I thought it was disposable!" Paige gave Hanna a guilty-puppy look. Hanna scowled back at her. Paige dipped her head. "Was it expensive?"

"Jesus, Paige!" Hanna burst into laughter. "Of course it's disposable! Gah - what did you think?"

Hanna handed the outfit and a brand-new bra behind the screen to Paige. Paige pressed the bra into place herself this time. When she had everything lined up the way that she thought it should go, she emerged from behind the screen with her arms stretched out wide in a "Tada!" kind of pose.

"Whoa! Paige!" Hanna, with a beaming smile on her face, approached Paige and began tugging things into place; sharpening corners and smoothing out wrinkles. "You look amazing!"

Paige chuckled. "It's not something I could really wear, though," she said nervously, not wanting to hurt Hanna's feelings.

"Well, that's not the point of fashion." Hanna pulled out her phone and started to take pictures. Paige played along, striking a pose or two. "It's kind of like when car companies release their concept cars. It's all about the 'Wow!' factor – getting people excited about the lines and the technology. But they could never afford to mass-market those cars, so they streamline them into something sellable, with just enough of the glitz to remind the buyers of the awesome concept car."

Paige nodded in understanding. Hanna scrolled through the pictures she'd taken, occasionally tilting her phone to show Paige a nice one - or a goofy, embarrassing one.

"What are you going to do with those pictures?"

"I need them for my portfolio. And I'll print them up for my final project."

"Okay," Paige said soberly. "But, no Instagram, right?"

"No," Hanna teased, "I'm just going to tape them to the wall by my bed so I can dream about how adorable you look right now!" Rolling her eyes, she said, "Of course, they're going on Instagram!"

"Hanna…"

"Paige…" Hanna mocked her tone. "You look good. You look different than what you're used to, but just get over it." She put her hands on Paige's shoulders, like a coach giving a motivational speech to one of her players. "You look _good_ ," she said with a resolute stare and a nod.

Paige smiled slightly and dipped her head. She had suspected from the start that Hanna was going to post the pictures. She had seen a lot of Hanna's posts of her fashion designs. As Hanna had said, it wasn't about how Paige looked as a model but about how Hanna's clothes looked on a model. Still, Paige was mortified at the thought that Emily – not to mention Emily's new girlfriend – would be able to see her pretending to be a model. She could only imagine the comments they would make at her expense - if not on Instagram, then to each other. But Hanna was right. Paige would get over it. She would have to, because it was important to Hanna. And Hanna had become important to her.


	4. Invitation to the Dance

Paige was doing her best to keep her eyes off of the back of Hanna's skirt as she walked several steps behind her new, unexpected best friend. It wasn't working. Her eyes kept drifting back down there, captivated by the skirt's easy, breezy motion, flapping up and down slightly - the result of a gentle wind as well as of the gentle swishing of Hanna's hips.

It struck Paige that the skirt was like Hanna herself: Light and airy, uncomplicated, drawing people to herself by the ease of motion. Paige couldn't help grinning. She wasn't sure why Hanna had decided to be so chummy with her after the break-up with Emily, but she couldn't deny that she was enjoying their friendship. Perhaps a bit too much, she worried.

"Uh oh, creeper alert," Mona muttered to Hanna, as a peek into the selfie-cam on her phone, which she was using to check her makeup, offered her a glimpse of Paige and her wandering eyes. Hanna knew better than to follow her instincts and whip her head around to investigate. Mona clarified. "Paige McCullers, checking you out from behind."

"Paige McCullers?" That really made Hanna want to turn and look. But she had to keep her cool; no need to tip Mona off to the feelings - whatever they were - that she was finding harder to ignore. "That doesn't sound like her style," she mused.

"Not like the Paige we used to know," Mona pointed out. "The one who was married to Emily Fields." Mona closed the camera and put her phone back into her pocketbook, dabbing at her lipstick as she continued, without missing a beat. "I mean, let's face it: We never really got to know _this_ Paige before - the Paige who's not only out, but also single." Mona put her hand on Hanna's shoulder, slowing to a stop and turning to face her. Hanna smiled and waved as Paige passed them by. Paige dipped her head, only giving the slightest acknowledgment that she had seen Hanna. "Better watch out, Hanna," Mona cautioned. "I know you've made Paige your little social-justice project, but it looks as if the student has developed a little crush on the teacher."

Hanna rolled her eyes. "It's just lust, Mona. Let's not make a big deal out of it. I mean, who wouldn't lust after me in this skirt?"

Mona shook her head pensively. "I don't know, Hanna. Paige doesn't strike me as that type. She might let her eyes wander," Mona asserted, "but she wouldn't blatantly check someone out unless she was interested in more than what you've got going on underneath that skirt."

Hanna bobbed her head, with an approving raise of her eyebrows. "Well, I guess there are worse things that could happen to a girl!" She wrapped her arm around Mona's shoulder and started walking again.

Hanna was doing her best to remain casual, but Mona's words had started her thinking. She was intrigued at the thought that Paige might have started thinking of her that way. And even though she couldn't deny that she was starting to get feelings for Paige, too, she wasn't sure what those feelings were. She and Paige had spent a lot of time together and had gotten to know each other in a way that most other people didn't. There was definitely a strong connection. But was it more than that? It was true that Hanna got excited when she knew that she was going to see Paige, and that she always had fun with Paige. Still, she couldn't say that it was love or like, as opposed to a great friendship.

Hanna's thoughts were interrupted by a thumping on her forehead. "Earth to Hanna? Helloooo... Anybody home?

"I'm sorry, what?" Hanna pleaded, explaining, "I just got distracted for a minute." She stroked her hair away from her face, hoping that Mona would blame the smile that she was wearing on embarrassment over been caught spacing out, and not on her daydreams about Paige.

* * *

Paige had gotten used to the way that Hanna bumped her shoulder whenever she came up behind her in the hallway. It was Hanna's new way of saying hello to her. Paige had also gotten used to feeling a smile spread across her lips whenever she felt that bump. This time, Paige noticed, there was a smile on Hanna's face, too. "Hey," Paige said flatly, trying to maintain her cool.

"Hey," Hanna droned, echoing Paige's deep, low rumble and giggling to herself at how much of a jock Paige could be sometimes, with her grunted, monosyllabic replies.

"How's it going?" Paige asked, genuinely interested.

Hanna let out a heavy sigh. "The Fall Formal planning committee started up today," she explained.

Paige smiled. "Yeah?" She was trying to share Hanna's excitement, only, Hanna didn't appear excited.

Hanna nodded. "I always thought I'd be going with Caleb, but now..."

Paige crinkled her nose sympathetically. "Oh, yeah," she said sadly.

Hanna looked up at Paige with a demure half-smile that Paige hadn't seen from her before. It was small and shy; almost vulnerable. Hanna tilted her head to the side. "I..." She closed her mouth and gulped down her fears. "Would you want to go with me?" Her face scrunched up and her voice went squeaky.

Paige, caught off guard, laughed out loud until she saw the wounded look on Hanna's face. "Oh, Hanna, I don't think that would be..."

"As a _friend,_ Paige," Hanna explained urgently, trying to back away from the way she had just thrown it out there. "I don't..." Her voice became soft and pleading. "I don't want to go by myself."

Paige shook her head patiently. "Hanna," she pointed out, "you could go with any guy in school. And, probably with more than half the girls."

"I don't want to go with a guy." Hanna stopped walking, putting her hand on Paige's chest to signal her to stop, too, as she turned to face her. "With guys, there are... expectations. And I don't just want to go with _someone._ I want to go with a friend." Hanna bit her lip. "I want to go with _you_."

Paige sighed, running her fingers through her hair. The way that Hanna had said, "friend" reminded her of her "single ladies" pledge. Hanna didn't want to be the only single girl among her friends and their dates. Paige got that. And she had meant it when she told Hanna to call her whenever she needed someone. Still, this was a bit more than she was ready to say yes to.

Hanna's hands wandered down and took hold of the string hanging on either side of Paige's hood, with her eyes following, to avoid Paige's eyes. "Emily's not going to be there," she volunteered, as if reading Paige's thoughts. She looked up at Paige, rolling her eyes. "They thought it would be too much for her _girlfriend_ , so they're doing their own thing."

Hearing that Emily wouldn't be there was a big relief. Paige had wanted to say yes to Hanna, to fulfill her promise, but she wasn't sure that she could handle bumping into Emily at the formal, and seeing her dance the night away with the girl who had tormented her for so many years. "Sure, Hanna." Paige knew that Hanna would know that Emily was the reason for her quick change of heart. "If you're sure that's what you want…"

Hanna curled her fingers into balls and used them to hide the bottom of her face. She nodded slightly. She had known going in that it was going to be hard to summon up the courage to ask Paige to go to the dance with her, but she hadn't anticipated that the butterflies in her stomach would be quite so hyperactive.

Paige shrugged casually. "Okay," and Hanna was able to breathe again. With a slight chuckle, Paige added, dramatically, "The Formal!"

Hanna giggled nervously, still using her hands to hide her expression from Paige. She finally lowered her hands to her sides, unveiling an endearingly shy smile. She could feel the awkwardness building between them, so she playfully poked the books that Paige was carrying, knocking them out of her arms and them onto the floor as she dashed away. She turned back with a smile, halfway down the hall, to watch as Paige, also smiling, stooped down to retrieve her things.

* * *

"Hanna!" Ashley Marin called from the front door, "You have a visitor!"

"Thanks, Mom," Hanna replied through her closed bedroom door. "Could you send her up please?" Aria was a little early, but Hanna understood that she must have been eager to get started on their shopping trip.

When Hanna heard footsteps dashing up the stairs, she opened her door to greet her and let her know that she hadn't started getting ready yet. "Hey, Ar…" Seeing who it was, Hanna gasped. "Paige!" She immediately shut the door again. "What are you doing here?"

Paige's head reeled, partly in shock, and partly in self-protection as the door was quickly slammed in her face.

"Hanna?"

"I don't have any makeup on!"

Paige tilted her head in surprise at that excuse. "I've seen you without makeup before!" she pointed out. She breathed out a frustrated puff of air, adding, in a whisper too low for Hanna to hear, "And you've seen my boobs."

Hanna, realizing what a crazy woman she must've seemed, opened the door just wide enough to pop her head out and flash two fingers. "Two minutes," she mouthed, though no words came out. She flashed Paige a nervous smile that, she hoped, didn't seem too psychotic.

Paige rocked back and forth on her heels in the hallway, facing Hanna's closed door. She ran her fingers through her hair. When she heard footsteps coming up the stairs, she turned to give a shy smile and wave to Hanna's mother. Ashley waved back and gave her a sympathetic shrug of the shoulders.

Inside her bedroom, Hanna was pacing back and forth between her bed and her makeup mirror, trying to come up with a strategy. She stopped, put her hand on her heart, and tried to catch her breath. The clock was ticking. She couldn't let Paige see her looking the way she did.

She took a look around the room. It was useless. She grabbed twin fistfuls of her hair in frustration. She had heard of people who could get their hair and makeup together in two minutes, but she struggled to believe that those people actually existed. She put her hands on her hips and sighed. She ultimately decided that she had time to do three things: Put on a bit of lipstick and blush, cover her hair with an LA Lakers cap, and pull the curtains closed to darken the room a bit. No need to shine a spotlight on her shortcomings.

Hanna opened the door slowly, half-hiding behind it out of embarrassment at how she had behaved. "Sorry," she said with a nervous giggle. She grabbed Paige by the wrist and pulled her inside the room.

"No, I'm sorry." Paige dipped her head. "I should've called first."

"Don't be silly!" Hanna was trying to act casual, but she could tell that she was being weird. "You don't have to call first." _I wake up looking like this..._

Hanna followed Paige's eyes, which were taking a quick survey of the room. Hanna's eyes went wide as she saw a bra that she hadn't put in the hamper lying on the floor, off in the corner. She quickly grabbed Paige's arm and pulled her onto the bed, hoping that she had caught her in time to keep her from noticing. "So, what brings you by?"

"I… um…." Paige was a little overwhelmed by everything, and somewhat surprised that Hanna didn't know why she had come. She felt an unexpected fluttering in her stomach. She had no reason to feel nervous; this certainly wasn't the first time that she had found herself sitting so close to an attractive straight girl, alone on a bed, behind closed doors. And, of course, she had grown accustomed to spending time on her own bed, sitting or lying next to Hanna on their study nights. But something was different. Hanna was being weird, and it was making Paige feel weird. "Umm… Did Spencer give you something for me?"

"Oh, right! Right, right, right…" Hanna chuckled, bopping her forehead with her palm. "I'm such an airhead!" She picked her backpack off of the floor and started rifling through her notebooks, trying to find the sheet of paper with the homework assignment for AP Physics that Paige had missed because of swim practice.

"Sorry," Paige said, seeing all the effort that Hanna was going through. "I don't know why she couldn't just text it to me…"

"Yeah, right?" Hanna looked up and smiled apologetically, not letting on that she was the one who had suggested that Spencer leave the homework with her, rather than text it to Paige. "I guess she was worried that she might type something in wrong," she said, offering the excuse that she had given Spencer, "or that, if she sent you a pic, it might not be clear enough to read," she added, giving Paige the rebuttal she had used to when Spencer said that she would just take a picture of the assignment and text it to Paige. "Anyway…" Hanna produced the document with a flourish. Paige accepted it gratefully.

"Well, I…" Paige stood awkwardly and cleared her throat. "I guess I should let you get back to…" Paige tapped her foot, not knowing what she was letting Hanna get back to, or why she was feeling so awkward - or why everything felt so awkward. "… I guess I'd better get going on this," she said, holding up the assignment again.

Hanna, still seated, nodded and smiled. As Paige turned to go, Hanna stood up. "I'll walk you out," she said. Hanna reached out her hands, to put them on Paige's shoulders, but pulled them back quickly, suddenly uncomfortable with what would have been an easy thing for her to do only a week or so before. She clasped her hands behind her back instead.

Paige, oblivious to Hanna's inner turmoil that had been playing out behind her back, stopped and gestured for Hanna to lead the way. "After you."

As they headed to the front door, Paige apologized again for having taken Hanna by surprise. "It's fine, really, Paige," Hanna assured her. "I needed to get ready anyway." Paige raised her right eyebrow, wordlessly asking what Hanna needed to get ready for. "Aria's coming over in a bit, and we're going to go look at floral arrangements." For some reason, Hanna kind of wanted Paige to know that it was Aria whom she was expecting, and not a boy. "For the formal," she blurted out, as if that would make her story seem more plausible.

"Oh. Well, that sounds like…" Paige paused for dramatic effect. "Torture," she concluded.

Hanna gave her a light slap on the shoulder before she hugged her good-bye. "I'll see you in school tomorrow, okay?" Paige smiled and nodded as she waved good-bye.

* * *

"What would you think," Hanna began, holding Mona's little finger with one hand as she applied polish to its nail with the other, "about me dating a girl?" Hanna was trying her best to make it sound as if it were no big deal.

Hanna had told Aria and Spencer that she and Paige were going to the formal together, of course, and they didn't think anything of it. They knew that Hanna and Paige had become good friends, and that they were both single. It made sense that they would go together rather than go alone. But Hanna wasn't ready to talk to them about the feelings that she was developing for Paige. They knew Paige too well. They knew Emily too well, too. Hanna didn't want to be analyzed and advised. She just wanted a sounding board to help her figure things out.

"A _girl_?" Mona parroted. Hanna casually shrugged a shoulder. Mona shot her a knowing smirk. "You mean Paige."

Hanna sighed heavily, putting the cap back on the bottle of polish and setting it off to the side. "I guess," she offered noncommittally. She was suddenly unable to look Mona in the eyes.

"OMG, girl! That would just be the ultimate revenge!"

Hanna looked up quizzically. "What do you mean?"

"Dating Paige? I mean, could there be a more devious way to deliver a 'Fuck you!' to Emily?" Mona flipped the bird with one of her freshly manicured fingers as she spoke.

"Jeez..." That thought Hanna hadn't even occurred to Hanna.

"Yeah," Mona gushed. "I mean, people say _I'm_ devious, but this is some next-level shit."

"Mona, I swear, I never even thought about..."

"And don't be surprised if you start getting a little extra attention from Emily's new BFF."

Hanna scoffed. "Believe me, I can handle her!"

"No," Mona said, curling her nails towards her mouth so that she could blow on them, to help them dry. "I mean... _attention,_ " she cooed, pursing her lips in mock flirtation.

"I... she... You think she would..."

"Of course, she would!"

"Just because I like a girl?"

"Not just _a_ girl. _Paige_. Because it's all about fucking with Paige. She's doesn't care about winning the girl. She only cares about making sure that Paige loses. You've seen the little cat-and-mouse game she plays with Emily; cozying up to her whenever Paige is in the picture, keeping her at arm's length when she's not."

"Ooooh!" Hanna's face, now reddening with anger, contorted into a tight ball.

Mona leaned across the bed and stroked Hanna's forearm. She didn't want to get her so worked up, when she was obviously emotional already. "Hey." Hanna glared at her, although Mona wasn't the one she was angry with. "You really have feelings for Paige, don't you?"

Hanna looked away again, with a shrug. "I guess," she answered weakly.

Mona leaned back casually, hoping that it would help Hanna relax. "And that's totally cool," she replied nonchalantly. "I just... it caught me off guard, that's all. I mean, when did this start?"

Hanna sighed heavily. She unfolded her legs, crossing them in front of her, and lay back against the headboard. "I don't know. We've just... we've been spending a lot of time together, and... you know..."

Mona smirked. "Well, you and I spend a lot of time together, too. Don't tell me..."

Hanna rolled her eyes and rumbled an emphatic, "No!" She softened her tone and continued, "I don't know, Mona. I mean, who knows why anyone falls for someone? We're all looking for the same thing – someone to be with us as we go through life, so we don't have to do it alone. But, then, we waste so much time being afraid that the 'someone' isn't enough. Or that _we're_ not enough. Or that someone else will judge us because of the person we choose."

Mona gave Hanna a hug. "You know I won't judge, Hanna."

Hanna nodded against Mona's shoulder. "I know, Mona."

"So." Mona perked up, rubbing Hanna's back as they separated. "Do you think she likes you back?"

Hanna smiled at the prospect, relaxing against the bed again. "I don't know. I mean, weren't you the one who said that she was checking me out that time?"

"Oh, girl, she was _so_ checking you out!"

* * *

"You're so lucky to have this nice, big bed," Hanna observed out of the blue. Paige had gotten used to that kind of outburst from Hanna, in the middle of their study sessions.

She and Hanna were facing opposite ends of her king-sized bed; Hanna on her back, with her head propped up on all three of Paige's pillows, and Paige, on her stomach, her head facing the foot of the bed.

"Yeah?" she grunted, not really looking up from her calculus book.

"Yeah," Hanna asserted, setting her magazine down on her lap. "It's so big and roomy. I could spread my entire portfolio out on this mattress and take the whole thing in all at once!" Paige chuckled that that was Hanna's reason for loving a big bed. "I can't believe Nick McCheapskate would buy you a king-sized bed."

"McCheapskate?" Paige said with a laugh.

"Let's face it, girl! Your dad tends to be a little... _careful_ with his money."

"I guess," Paige said, turning over to her side so that she could see Hanna, "but this is actually my parents' old bed. My Dad decided they needed an upgrade, so he gave me the leftovers. Story of my life, I guess," she concluded with a shrug.

Paige was referring to the way that she always got her parents' hand-me-downs, whenever Nick McCullers decided that he wanted something newer, bigger, or fancier. To Hanna, though, it sounded as if Paige was getting depressed over the way that she always came in second place in life – in particular, Hanna assumed, when it came to Emily. She didn't want Paige to wallow, so she decided to talk about something else.

"So, when can we go shopping?"

"Shopping?"

Hanna sat up, folding her legs in front of her. She brushed her hair away from her forehead. "Yeah. The formal's only a couple of weeks away, you know."

"Really?" Paige sat up, too, because it was uncomfortable leaning on her elbow the way she had been. "And you want to dress me up again?"

"Oh, no, Paige! But part of the fun of going out is shopping together, you know – choosing an outfit."

Paige chuckled dismissively. "Did you do that with Caleb?"

"Well, no… but… I... just... thought it would be different, going out with a girl." Hanna gave a sweet, apologetic smile for her assumption.

Paige rolled her eyes. "I'll be fine, Hanna."

"You already have something picked out?" Paige nodded. "What?"

Paige shook her head. "Oh, I don't know. I was going to throw on a pair of faded jeans, a white t-shirt with a pack of cigarettes rolled up in the sleeve, and a red jacket."

"Ha ha," Hanna droned mockingly. "How very 'Rebel Without a Cause' of you."

"Wow – How did you get that reference?"

Hanna rolled her eyes, answering in a tone that made it seem that the answer were painfully obvious. "I'm a fashion genius, Paige, remember? And James Dean's look in that movie is iconic!"

Paige nodded in understanding. "Okay... I won't underestimate you again," she said. "But don't underestimate me, either; I know how to dress myself."

"I know you do!" Hanna had seen Paige get all dressed up for her dates with Emily. "But it's not about that. It's about looking at clothes together. Trying out new looks together." Hanna pouted pitifully. "You really won't let me take you shopping?"

Paige let out a sigh. She really couldn't think of anything that she was less interested in doing. Then again, Hanna had a way of making things fun. "I… I don't really think…" Hanna tilted her head to the side, her eyes pleading. "How about if I go shopping with _you_ – help _you_ pick something out?"

Hanna shoved Paige's shoulder, almost knocking her off of the bed. "You can't see my outfit before the formal!" she screeched, without a hint of irony. "Where's the mystery in that?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: The scene where Hanna asks Paige to the formal is based on a scene from the movie that inspired me to write this fic, "ToY." I posted a (slightly NSFW) clip to YouTube (T0lEof15GOU), in case anyone's interested. (By the way, I also posted the scene that inspired the bit of business with the cake in chapter 2... zkOH8FJ3OBQ).
> 
> Thanks for reading! :)


	5. The Formal

Paige was dreading the formal. She was going (supposedly) so that Hanna wouldn't be alone, but Paige knew that, in the end, she, herself, would be the one who was left all alone, standing on the sidelines with her hands in her pockets, trying her best to be invisible in her dark corner. It wasn't that she thought that Hanna would ditch her at the dance, but she knew that it was only normal for Hanna to go off with her old friends at some point, leaving Paige to play the part of the sad, pathetic single girl, or, even more humiliating, Emily's ex.

It was too late to turn back, though. Paige mustered up her courage and knocked on Hanna's door.

When Hanna opened the door, Paige's mouth dropped open. Hanna looked sexy; more than that – she looked _hot_. She was wearing a sparkly, long-sleeved, dark blue dress that plunged low in the front around her cleavage, and ended just past the halfway point of her thighs. Her shoes were spiky heels with nothing but a thin strap behind the toe-line and another above the ankle. The heels weren't long enough to put Hanna eye-to-eye with Paige; just long enough to put Hanna's anatomy in perfect alignment.

"How do I look?" Hanna asked nervously, giving a quick spin, although the expression on Paige's face had already pretty much answered the question for her.

"Wow!" Paige closed her eyes, popped her head back, and stretched her hands out wide as she answered the question. Her eyes were closed for most of the spin, so she didn't really get to see the back of the dress until Hanna turned around again, stooping over to retrieve her jacket. It turned out that there wasn't much dress to see in back, though. Also, Hanna was wearing her hair up, with tendrils falling on the side of her face, and that left only the thin line that connected her dress at the shoulders to cover her back.

All of Paige's earlier dread about the formal disappeared in an instant. There wasn't room for them. All of her brain capacity was taken up with two thoughts: Hanna and that dress.

Paige was unsure how to position her hand as she escorted Hanna out of the house. She wanted to make sure that she was only touching fabric, not flesh. Hanna made it easier by linking arms with Paige, reaching across the front of Paige's body to stroke the lapel of Paige's dark gray suit. "You look good," she oozed approvingly, patting her hand on Paige's stomach.

* * *

"You don't mind going with me, right?" Hanna asked apologetically in the limousine.

"No, of course not, Hanna." It wasn't a lie, although Paige had her doubts about how the evening would go, since she wasn't sure how much time she would actually get to spend with Hanna. "It should be fun," she said, smiling optimistically.

Hanna smiled weakly. "It's just… I mean, I know I'm not movie-star beautiful, like ex." Paige rolled her eyes, not at the mention of Emily, but at the way Hanna was downplaying her beauty. "What?" Hanna said, thinking that Paige had rolled her eyes to make her feel better. "I'm sure people told you that about Emily all the time."

"That she looked like Naya Rivera?"

"Naya?" Hanna scrunched her eyebrows together. "I guess I could see that. But don't you think she looks more like Shay Mitchell?" Paige shrugged her shoulders, looking confused. "You know? From that movie, 'Mother's Day,' with Julia Roberts and Jennifer Aniston?" Paige still looked clueless. Hanna groaned in disbelief and pulled up a picture on her phone.

"Oh, wow…" Paige took the phone to get a closer look. "That's… weird!" Hanna shrugged her shoulders, looking a little sad.

"Okay, but, Hanna, you look like a movie star too! – You look just like Ashley Tisdale!"

"Ashley… Tisdale?" Paige nodded. "From Disney Channel?"

"No, no, not her… what's that girl's name?" Hanna played dumb. "You know the one I mean! Shit!" Paige looked desperately at Hanna. Hanna didn't let it show, but she was enjoying watching Paige squirm. "You must hear it all the time!" Paige let out a frustrated sigh. "From 'Spring Breakers?'"

"Ashley Benson?"

"Ashley Benson!" Paige clapped her hands together. "You look just like her!"

"I wish!" Hanna chuckled sadly. "I wish I could be that thin."

Paige took Hanna's hand and gave it a squeeze. "You're beautiful," she said simply. "Seriously, you guys could be sisters."

"Yeah," Hanna scoffed. "And I'm the fat sister," she said softly.

"Hanna..." Paige tilted her head.

"I know," Hanna said loudly, to drown out whatever words of comfort Paige was about to offer. She was looking down, staring at her knees and fidgeting with her fingers. "I know, Paige. It's just hard not to see myself as that chubby girl who couldn't stand who she saw in the mirror, so she took to eating to comfort herself."

Paige leaned across the seat and gave her a hug, rubbing her arm. "I wish I had known you back then," she said softly. "I wish I could've told you how beautiful you were."

Hanna kissed Paige's cheek softly before she pulled away from the hug. "Thanks," she said, with a shy smile. Before things could get even more serious, she changed the subject. "You know, they're friends in real life – Ashley Benson and Shay Mitchell."

"Oh, really?" Paige still wasn't sure who Shay Mitchell was.

Hanna nodded. "Yeah. They met on the pilot for this TV drama about, I don't know, friends in high school who get tormented by a mysterious stranger…"

"Hmm…" Paige shrugged. "That would've been weird if that show had gotten on the air!"

"Right?" Hanna squeezed Paige's arm. Settling back into her seat, her eyes wide with excitement, she exclaimed, half-singing, "Anyway, I know what actor you look like."

"Oh, don't say it…" Paige's voice sounded annoyed, but her entire face was smiling.

"Moze!" Paige shook her head, with a resigned smile. "What? Moze was a cutie! A lot cuter than that fake Suzie Crabgrass!" Hanna made a mocking face as she said the name.

"Yeah, I get that all the time."

"Seriously, Paige! I loved Moze! Ned needed to wake up and realize what a great girl she was!"

"Um, Hanna," Paige lowered her head as she started intently into Hanna's eyes and said, sounding very serious, "you do know that it was just a TV show, right?"

"I know but, still… How could they play with my affections like that? I really wanted to see the Ned and Moze get together!"

"Well, how about if Moze and Suzie had gotten together, huh?" Paige playfully nudged Hanna in the ribs. "That would've been something!"

"Yeah, right, Paige!" Hanna scoffed. "I don't think Nickelodeon was ready for that back then!"

"Okay, well, you have your dream couple, I have mine!"

* * *

Despite what Paige had feared, Hanna was never very far from her side at the dance. Most of the time, she was in physical contact with Paige, their arms linked, or Hanna's arm casually on Paige's shoulder, or holding hands. A couple of times, someone from the swim team came over to say hello, and Hanna, subtly but undeniably moved even closer to Paige, like a protective puppy warning them off. Paige appreciated the gesture. She knew that any conversation with her teammates would eventually come around to Emily, and she wasn't in the mood. She appreciated the fact that Hanna was so sensitive to that.

* * *

"Shit, Paige!"

"What?" Paige, who had gotten caught up in their dance and had let her mind wander, quickly backed away from Hanna, wondering what inappropriate thing she had mistakenly done.

Hanna used the distance to look Paige over. "Your shoulders," she said admiringly, running her hands over them, "they're massive!"

"Oh, yeah." Paige dipped her head shyly. "Well, coach has me swimming fly – butterfly – this season, and…" She shrugged her massive shoulders. "It's a good workout for the upper body, I suppose."

"Mm hm," Hanna muttered, not interested in the explanation as much as the end result. She pulled herself closer into the dance again.

* * *

"You're a good dancer," Hanna announced, tapping Paige's shoulders, when the band took a break and the room became quiet enough to talk.

"You make it easy," Paige said with a smile.

Hanna pulled out her phone, to take a quick check of how her hair and makeup were holding up. "So, I've got to take care of some committee business," she said sadly, returning the phone to her clutch. "It shouldn't take long," she promised, laying a comforting hand on Paige's shoulder. Paige nodded. As Hanna started to walk away, Paige turned in the opposite direction, letting go of a large puff of air as she began scanning the room for a place to camp out while she waited for Hanna to return. Lurking in the back of her mind was the dreaded thought that Hanna might not be back at all. Hanna hadn't really spent any time with her other friends, after all, and Paige knew that she would have to spend some time catching up with them before the night was over.

As Paige took a step towards the row of chairs by the wall, she was stopped by a hand on her shoulder. She turned around to see Hanna, looking confused. "Where are you going?"

"Oh… I thought… Was I supposed to..." Paige shook her head rather than finishing her thought. Hanna grabbed her hand and led her to a room in the back, where the three other committee members were assembled. Paige took a chair by the wall, turning it around so that she could sit in it backwards. She laced her fingers together on top of the chair's back and rested her chin on top of them as she observed Hanna interacting with the committee.

There wasn't much to do while they took care of business, but Paige felt more comfortable in the room with the committee than she would have out in the dance hall, all by herself.

Hanna was truly in her element. She was bubbly and effervescent, laughing and teasing the other two girls and the one boy as they worked through some sheets of paper that were spread out on the table that they hadhuddled around. Hanna bent over the table, grabbing a pencil to take some notes, crinkling her forehead in concentration. Paige cursed herself for the thoughts that were going through her head.

There was a small break in the activity around the table, and Paige heard the committee whispering. Somebody must have asked who she was, because Hanna, just loud enough for Paige to hear, said, "Paige. My date," very matter-of-factly. Everyone turned to stare at the chair where Paige was sitting, suddenly a little more conscious of her posture now that all eyes were trained on her. Paige waved at them, grinning shyly. Hanna gave her the sweetest smile, as if she were proud of the fact that she was at the dance with Paige. As if it were a real date. It made Paige feel guilty for the way that she had been eyeing up Hanna's legs just moments before.

Hanna pouted at Paige sympathetically, mouthing a quick "Sorry," which Paige acknowledged by waving her hands to say that it was okay. Hanna bit her lip and smiled as she turned back to whatever it was that the committee was going over around the table.

Once everything was taken care of, she hustled over to collect Paige. Paige stood as Hanna approached, and Hanna rubbed her back. "Sorry that took so long," she said, rewarding Paige with a peck on the cheek for hanging in there.

"It's fine," Paige assured her.

Hanna looked at her skeptically. "Really?"

"Really. It wasn't very long." Paige took Hanna's hands, wanting to get the attention away from Hanna's apology. "Ready to hit the dance floor again?"

Hanna took hold of Paige's arm, gripping her bicep tightly. "Lead the way!"

* * *

The energy was different for the second half of the dance. The band was playing slower songs, and Hanna, for the most part, kept her head on Paige's shoulder as they slowly stepped side-to-side in time with the music. Paige didn't want to get too comfortable with what was happening, but she couldn't deny that she was enjoying it. There was something about dancing slowly with a beautiful woman in her arms, her head on Paige's chest, that played into Paige's protective instincts. Paige held Hanna like her fortress; a safe harbor away from the storms of life.

That wasn't it, of course. That scenario was for lovers. Paige knew that she and Hanna were nothing more than two friends sharing a dance. Still, Hanna was in her arms, and Hanna had chosen to lay her head on her chest. Paige wasn't going to make too much of it, but she was still able to enjoy it.

She found herself wondering what it would feel like to kiss Hanna; _really_ kiss her, not just exchange the pecks on the cheek that she had grown accustomed to receiving from Hanna. Paige closed her eyes and let her mind wander: _Hanna would lift her head from Paige's shoulder and look up at her with hungry eyes. Her lips would stretch into a smile, which Paige would return on reflex. She would feel Hanna's hand tickle over the nape of her neck as she gently pulled Paige in. Hanna's soft lips would mold against her own, their lips mimicking the slow, steady dance that their legs were executing on the dance floor. They would shift the position of their heads, their lips separated only long enough for them to catch a breath - and Paige's heart would beat at the thought that she was inhaling Hanna's breath. Their lips would part as the kiss deepened and the rest of the room slowly faded away._

Paige heard Hanna sigh and realized that, while her mind had been taking its flight of fancy, her arms had begun squeezing Hanna tighter. She loosened her grip abruptly and awkwardly. Hanna lifted her head from Paige's shoulder and looked up at her, her brow furrowed, concerned that Paige was okay. Paige gave her a guilty smile, but it was enough of a smile to quiet Hanna's concerns. She put her head back on Paige's shoulder and nuzzled in a little. She let her hands rub down to the small of Paige's back and raised them back to her shoulders again.

Paige suddenly felt very warm. She prayed that Hanna didn't notice.

When the song ended, Hanna led Paige past the other couples on the dance floor over to where Spencer and Aria were taking a break with their dates. It was just what Paige needed to cool off and shut down the wild meanderings of her imagination. It was as if Hanna knew what had been going on in Paige's mind and was subtly giving her an opportunity to cool down. Or maybe Paige was just being paranoid, and Hanna walked them over there because she needed a break – or wanted to spend some time with her closest friends.

Paige sat on the margins of their conversations and realized how much it sucked to be single. She smiled gamely whenever anyone looked her way and replied – briefly but politely – whenever someone tried to draw her into the conversation. But she was not okay. Over the previous couple of months, her friendship with Hanna had helped her forget how lonely it felt, being single, but there, sitting with Hanna's friends and their dates, the magnitude of her loneliness sank in. She wasn't _there_ with Hanna. They were there together only because neither of them had someone special in their lives.

Toby said something and Hanna stroked the back of Paige's hand as she turned towards her with a smile. When she felt Hanna's thumb glide across her hand, Paige realized that Hanna hadn't let go of her hand since she led her off of the dance floor. That realization helped her feel better; less alone. But it was just Hanna being Hanna. She kept hold of Paige's hand because that's what she did; she used touch to stay connected.

Paige decided just to enjoy their date for the rest of the evening. Hanna had promised her a good time, and she was delivering on that promise. But, before long , the dance would be over, and they would go back to being friends again.

Paige was fine with that, she decided. At least, with Hanna, there were no illusions.

* * *

Paige was about a pace or two behind Hanna as she walked her to her door, and was unsuccessfully trying to avoid staring at Hanna's dress - the vertebrae of bare spine and the way the blue fabric on either side of it twisted and contorted with Hanna's every stride. Paige's eyes roamed lower, past the pertness of Hanna's ass to the slender thighs and perky calves that were striding so confidently, down to Hanna's shoes. Her eyes were safely angled at the steps by the time Hanna turned around, taking Paige's other hand, and smiling confidently.

"I had a great time," Hanna said in a soft, inviting voice. She was smiling in a way that made her mouth look tiny.

"I did, too." Paige's voice was low and husky, and soft like Hanna's.

Hanna licked her lips before she leaned in for the obligatory good-night kiss. Paige hadn't been sure that Hanna would even be up for a kiss, since it was, after all, a "friends date." So, to be on the safe side, she kept the kiss quick and friendly.

Hanna had other ideas, though. She kept pulling Paige in tighter, her hands releasing Paige's hands; roaming, instead, up and down Paige's back as she kissed her hard and long. Paige couldn't suppress the muffled moans that she heard herself making. She could barely keep knees from buckling.

Hanna backed away, smiling blithely as she quickly wiped some of her lipstick off of Paige's lips. She put her hand on Paige's cheek, squeezing it slightly as she said good night and turned to head inside.

Paige stood on the porch for a few seconds more, wondering what the hell had just happened.


	6. This Kiss

Paige picked up her phone about a dozen times the morning after the dance, deciding that she needed to call Hanna and figure out why she had kissed her the way she did. She even got dressed and started for Hanna's house, to confront her in person, before she turned around and headed back. It was on Hanna, she concluded. Hanna had kissed her; Hanna was the one who needed to give an explanation.

Just once, Paige didn't want to be the one who had to make the first move; show up on someone's doorstep and lay it all on the line, putting her heart on the chopping block. Just once, she wanted to be the one whom the other person came to talk to.

Paige looked at the time. It was barely 7:00. Her thoughts had kept her awake for most of the night and awakened her early (for a Saturday morning). She was still trying yo make sense of everything - not just the kiss. She understood that Hanna had been on a mission to pull her out of her post-breakup funk; that Hanna wanted to get her out into the social arena again. She could even rationalize a reason that Hanna had blockaded her so possessively when those other girls came around at the formal, reasoning that Hanna was merely trying to build up interest by making her seem like a hot commodity.

The one thing Paige couldn't come up with an explanation for was why Hanna would kiss her that way.

She knew that Hanna hadn't been drinking; she would've tasted it on her breath. With a kiss that intense, Paige was able tell what brand of toothpaste Hanna used: Crest Extra Whitening, with baking soda.

In a small, isolated corner of Paige's brain, she harbored the thought that Hanna might actually have been serious about the kiss; that she had, somehow, developed feelings for her. But that thought was drowned out by images of Hanna and the things that she'd said:

 _If I were into girls, you'd be my type.  
I do like a bit of chest hair.  
I always thought I'd be going with Caleb.  
_ _ _Boys have expectations.__ I want to go with a friend.  


Paige cursed herself for even letting herself consider that Hanna could have developed feelings for her. She fell in love to easily, she realized. It was the story - the tragic comedy - of her life.

* * *

Paige was fidgety all morning, scowling, pacing in circles around her room, mumbling to herself. Another lonely corner of her brain was occupied by a crippling fear: The fear that all of it had just been a game for Hanna. She had spent weeks pretending to be Paige's friend, earning her trust, making her feel again, lifting her up only so that she could drop her again and break her into a thousand pieces. What better way, Paige's thinking went, to get back on Emily's good side, after the rift that had opened between them. Paige could feel herself getting nauseous at the thought. She felt like such an idiot.

"Fuck it," she decided, a little after nine o'clock. She needed to get out of her head. She changed into her running clothes.

* * *

Paige opened the front door and began stretching. Down the sidewalk, on the opposite side of the street, she caught a glimpse of Hanna, walking with Mona. Paige put her hands on her hips and scowled.

"Hey, Paige!" Hanna called out.

 _So, apparently, I'm not invisible after all,_ Paige thought to herself, despite every indication that Hanna had given since the kiss.

Mona shot Paige a half-smile and a half-wave. The smile on Hanna's face was welcoming as she asked, "Going for a run?"

Paige scoffed to herself. So this was how Hanna was going to play it: Kiss her like that and then just act as if nothing had happened. Because nothing mattered to Hanna. To her, life was all just one big, carefree game, to be lived for the moment.

Hanna turned to face Mona. They put their hands on each other's shoulders, and Hanna whispered something. Paige just kept on glaring at them. They hugged, briefly, Hanna with her back to Paige, Mona smirking at her over Hanna's shoulder.

Paige resumed her stretches as Hanna jogged lightly up the walk and onto her porch. Paige didn't say a word.

"This is kind of a late start for you, isn't it?" Hanna said brightly. Paige hunched her shoulders and kind of grunted.

"Is everything okay?"

Silence. Paige just stood there like a statue, looking beyond Hanna to a point just over her left shoulder.

"Fine!" Hanna, frustrated with Paige's aloofness, put her hands up in front of her. "You're in the zone, I get it! I'll leave you alone!"

Paige sauntered past her without a word. Hanna stayed on the steps, wondering why Paige was being so cold to her.

Hanna's biggest fear was that Emily was the reason. Not Emily herself, but, as Mona had pointed out, Emily's girlfriend, who would never allow Paige to be happy. She had somehow done something to convince Paige that Emily wanted her back, and Paige's choice had been an easy one. Hanna didn't know whether to feel angry or disappointed. Mostly, she felt sad. She stood on the porch with her arms folded in front of her, planning to wait it out until Paige jogged off. Whatever was going on with Paige, Hanna decided it was better just to let her be. She knew a little something about Paige and her moods, so she decided not to push it.

After a few paces, Paige turned around. She was tired of holding things in; pretending that she didn't care; waiting for the other person to offer an explanation.

"What the hell was with that kiss last night?" she barked accusingly, without any kind of warning.

Hanna's face contorted in confusion tinged with anger. "The kiss? That's what all this is about?" she yelled.

"What was it, Hanna?" Paige sniped. "What, an experiment? A joke? Did you just forget yourself and the fact that you out were with a girl?"

"Paige…" Hanna, remembering Paige's insecurities, was trying to calm things down.

Paige's voice broke. "I mean, I thought we were friends. That we were really becoming friends. So why would you decide to mess with me like that?"

"What?" That last bit set Hanna off.

Paige shook her head, looking at the ground. "If you thought that…"

"Really, Paige? Really? That's really what you think?" Hanna's arms were flailing like crazy. "After everything that's happened between you and me, you think that I kissed you just to mess with you?"

"Then why?" Paige raised her arms and let them flop down against her thighs again. "Just tell me. Why?"

"Ooh!" Hanna stormed off the porch. "You know what, Paige? Fuck it." She walked right past Paige, waving her hand dismissively. Everything with Paige had been meaningless; a chasing after the wind. "I don't even know why I kissed you anymore," she muttered bitterly.

Paige could feel herself starting to close up into her self-protective shell; hardening her heart as she had learned to do, to save it from further damage. Her face was reddening and her hands had curled into tight, angry fists. But, this time, something within her started to resist. She reached out and grabbed Hanna's shoulder from behind. "Wait," she asked, keeping her tone as even as she could manage.

Hanna turned around, the rage still evident on her face. "I kissed you," she seethed, "because…"

And time stood still.

Paige counted each beat of her heart between that word and the one that followed; between Hanna's last word and Paige's next breath. It felt as if her whole life were hanging in the balance; her future to be determined by whatever was about to come out of Hanna's mouth. The pounding of her heart grew louder and her breathing felt labored. It felt as if she had already come back from the five-mile run that she had been stretching for.

Hanna took Paige by the shoulder, suddenly gentle. "I kissed you like that... because I wanted to," she said in a soft, deep voice, and she leaned in. This time, though, she paused, waiting for Paige to give her approval.

Paige closed her eyes and parted her lips. That was all that Hanna needed.

The kiss, though just as intense as the one from the night before, was softer, somehow. Paige felt herself melting into it. Her hands dropped to Hanna's waist, moving up and down slowly, in rhythm with the kiss. Hanna tilted her head and pursued the kiss more insistently, her hands on either side of Paige's neck, being tickled by Paige's ponytail whenever her head moved. Hanna's thumbs were lightly caressing Paige's cheek as she pulled Paige closer and closer.

Hanna felt that her lips had been made just for this; just for Paige's lips; just for that moment. She could hear herself moaning in contentment and desire as the kiss took on a life of its own. It was different, kissing a girl. It wasn't just a matter of the lips and the hands feeling softer against her skin than a boy's; it was a different energy. There had always seemed to be an element of selfishness in the boys' kisses, as if they were kissing her to make _themselves_ feel good, or to prove to her that they were good at kissing (and, by implication, good at other things). But kissing Paige felt like a communion; an almost sacred offering of themselves, with a simultaneous acceptance of the other.

When it was over and their lips parted for good, Hanna backed away slightly, moving her hands away from Paige's neck and leaning back into Paige's arms, which were around her waist. She put her index finger on the exposed skin above the neckline of Paige's racerback shirt. "That was our first kiss," she proclaimed with a nod, smiling slightly as her eyes followed the slight movement of her finger against Paige's skin. "Last night's kiss, that was for me. But this kiss was ours." Hanna raised her eyes, staring into Paige's eyes, hoping for agreement.

Paige nodded and pulled Hanna in for another series of kisses, delighted that they had a first kiss to look back on.

* * *

As they stood staring into each other's eyes, their foreheads together, Paige's hands clasped behind Hanna's back and Hanna's hands on Paige's shoulders, Hanna started to speak, softly and haltingly. "I wasn't expecting to fall for you. But these feelings have been growing for a while. And yesterday, the whole time I was getting ready for the dance, and all through the dance itself, I promised myself that I would tell you how I was feeling. The timing seemed right - the night was..." Hanna closed her eyes and smiled, remembering. "... perfect. And it seemed that you were could feel it, too." Paige opened her mouth, but Hanna put a hand on her chest to silence her for a moment, needing to get through what she had to say.

"But, as much as I tried, I couldn't get the words out. So, when we were at my front door, and you leaned in for the kiss, I said to myself, 'Well, this is it, Marin! It's now or never!' I knew I would never get another chance like that. I know it wasn't... I should've..." Hanna bit her lip and shrugged her shoulders. Paige kissed her again, softly.

"It's fine," Paige assured her. "I get it." Paige tightened her grip around Hanna's waist momentarily, to make the point that she wasn't upset. Still, there was something she didn't understand. "But why didn't you say anything after the kiss? How could you just run away?"

"Because I was _scared_ , Paige!" Hanna dropped her shoulders. "I had used up all my courage in that kiss." Paige rubbed Hanna's back. She remembered the first time she had kissed Emily; how she had run away afterwards - and then avoided Emily for days. "And then, today, when I didn't hear anything, I figured - 'Well, I blew it! I must've read it wrong. But maybe we can still be friends.' But, then you were so cold this morning..."

"I'm so sorry, Hanna."

"No, I get it," Hanna assured her. "But, Paige," - Hanna moved her right hand to Paige's chest - "I swear, I would never mess with your head. I'm not like that."

Paige held Hanna tighter. "I know you're not," she said softly.

"Especially not after your breakup, and all the emotions you were working through."

"God." Paige shook her head. "I was so stupid."

"It's okay." Hanna smoothed her hand over Paige's hair. "You didn't know."

Paige breathed heavily. "No. I didn't know. And, you're right, Hanna. I've been having feelings for you, too. I just never thought in a million years that you... that I..." Paige paused, taking a breath to reset herself. "I never thought that you might like me."

Hanna lifted her forehead off of Paige's and looked into her eyes. "Paige, you're the kindest, sweetest, most loving..."

" _Girl."_ Paige raised an eyebrow as she confronted Hanna with that reality.

"Girl," Hanna confirmed, shrugging her shoulders. "So, I fell for a girl. I've heard that happens to people." She bumped Paige with her shoulder and they shared a laugh, relieved that their fears about what the other one was thinking had been misguided.

They stood there for a moment, not knowing what the next step was, until Hanna's soft voice broke the deadlock. "I'd better let you get to your run," she said, nodding her chin towards the road as her finger took one last trail from the base of Paige's neck to the top of her shirt's collar. She played with the material there, untwisting it and patting it down, before she stepped away. Paige nodded sadly. "Call me later?"

"I will." As Paige started to turn around, Hanna pulled her back for one more kiss. She couldn't help herself. After playfully running her thumb over Paige's lips, she let her go.

"See ya."

"See ya," Paige echoed, with a contented smile. This was happening.

Hanna reached for her phone from her back pocket as she watched Paige trot away. She started walking towards The Brew and her brunch date as she punched in Mona's number.

"You were right!" she squealed excitedly into the phone.

"I was right?"

"She kissed me back," Hanna announced, letting out a small scream to release the tension before repeating, "She kissed me back!"

"See? What did I tell you?" Mona's voice was flat; almost clinical. She would never give away how excited she was, and how happy she was for Hanna. That wasn't her style."The way she followed you around like a Labrador all night, and the whole amateur gynecologist routine she was giving you when you guys were on the dance floor..."

Hanna sighed happily. "I know," she said simply. In reality, it had been she who had led Paige around all night, rather than Paige following her. Plus, she had been much more flirtatious and handsy than Paige had, and Paige had just been trying to keep up. But Hanna didn't feel like arguing those points. The only point that mattered was that she and Paige had cleared everything up, and Hanna wanted to celebrate that.

Hanna stayed on the phone with Mona until she caught up with her at The Brew. Talking with Mona helped her to calm down. As great as it had felt to kiss Paige, it had taken a lot of courage, especially given how upset and skeptical Paige had been at first. But Hanna had risked it, and the reward was greater than she could have imagined. Her adrenaline levels still peaking, she couldn't wait to see what happened next.

* * *

Hanna dropped by Paige's house after brunch. There was only one reason for the visit: She wanted to make out. Once she had crossed over into the territory where it was okay to kiss Paige, she wanted more. It was like a guilty pleasure; - not the taboo of kissing her best friend's ex, or the naughtiness of kissing a girl, but the fact that she was kissing Paige McCullers. Paige, who could turn a steaming cup of coffee into a frozen latte with her ice-cold stare, had somehow become Hanna's soft, cuddly teddy bear.

They were giddy with delight as they kissed the afternoon away. It was something that they both needed; not just a release, but a way to cement their budding relationship with each other.

Somewhere along the line, it hit Hanna that she was kissing a girl; that she had spent the better part of the afternoon making out with a girl. There was something about that realization, but Hanna couldn't quite put her finger on it. When Emily had told her that she thought she liked girls, Hanna just accepted it as a fact. She obviously didn't have any qualms about women kissing women. It was just not something that had ever appealed to her before. She had never had feelings for or even thoughts about Emily - or Paige - or, for that matter, anyone who played for the other team. What Hanna was feeling as she hit "pause" on their make-out session wasn't anything negative or weird. It was just different.

Paige rubbed Hanna's shoulder. "Are you okay? Hanna nodded with a gentle smile. "It just felt as if you went somewhere all of a sudden."

"I was just thinking about things. About this; us. Nothing bad, just... different."

Paige dipped her head. "Sorry. I know that this is..."

Hanna took her firmly by the chin and kissed her. "This is what I want, Paige. You're what I want."

* * *

"Mmm," Hanna moaned as their lips parted an hour or so into their kiss-a-thon. She smiled and cocked her head.

"Something wrong?"

"No, nothing, I just..." Hanna giggled defensively. "I just always thought that girl-on-girl kisses would be softer."

Paige kissed her softly. "They can be." She gave her another soft kiss. "Sometimes. But sometimes..." Paige kissed her hard. "They're harder." She backed away with a sympathetic crinkle of her nose. "Are you disappointed?"

"Oh, not at all," Hanna answered quickly. "I actually like hard kisses. I just thought that they were something that I would have to give up, being with a girl." She chuckled to herself at how silly that sounded, now that she had some experience kissing Paige. "Shit..." She started with a laugh, but it ended up as a sigh. "I've got a lot to learn, don't I, Paige?"

Paige put her hand on Hanna's neck, stroking her thumb against Hanna's cheek. "Well, I'm here to help you on your journey," she teased in an overly serious tone.

Hanna kissed Paige again, moaning into her parted lips. "Teach me, Paigey! Teach me!"

* * *

Hanna dolefully swept her legs off of Paige's lap and planted them on the floor. She smoothed her hair back into place and gave Paige a sad smile. "I should probably..." She pointed her index fingers like pistols at the front door.

Paige sighed as she stood to her feet, bending down to help Hanna off of the couch and giving her another kiss as she did.

"I can't believe we've been making out on this tiny couch all morning when you have that huge bed upstairs!" Hanna shook out her legs and stretched her back.

"Kind of pathetic that we couldn't even make it up the stairs," Paige noted with a grin.

Hanna shrugged her shoulders. "Or kind of romantic."

Paige smiled, nodding in agreement. "It's too bad you already had lunch with Mona."

"Yeah..." Hanna seductively drew out the syllable. "But I haven't had dinner..."

"You haven't?" Paige asked coyly.

Hanna shook her head. "You offering?"

"7:30?"

Hanna nodded. "Pick me up?"

"7:30," Paige confirmed.

Hanna raised her shoulders, excited, and gave Paige one final kiss. "It's a date!"


	7. It's A Date

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N - I hadn't planned to write about the date, but a few of my readers asked about it when I posted the story on fanfiction dot net. So, that was a bonus... sorry it made the chapter so long! Thanks for reading!

"It's a date," Paige repeated, barely audibly.

"How should I dress?"

"I was thinking we should do something casual, you know?" Paige answered, tilting her head. "- Since we just did the formal last night."

Hanna gave her a quick kiss, giggling at the fact that she could just kiss Paige whenever she felt like it. "Sounds perfect!"

* * *

"Ah," Hanna said, stepping inside the restaurant as Paige held the door open. "The Shake Shack. Back to the scene of the crime."

"Yeah, well, you know me," Paige said with a shrug. "Stick with what you know - stay in your comfort zone." She rubbed Hanna's shoulder. "Is this okay?"

Hanna gave her a kiss, her lips still not tired of the sensation. "Perfect."

After they ordered and got their drinks, Hanna slid into a booth, looking up at Paige as Paige slid in beside her. She wrapped her arm around Paige's as they waited for their food, taking occasional sips of their sodas. They chuckled simultaneously at the awkward silence that had settled between them.

"So," Paige said eagerly, though she didn't have anything beyond that.

"So," Hanna parroted, bobbing her head up and down.

"Is it my imagination, or did this feel a whole lot easier when we were just friends?"

Hanna laughed nervously. "Don't tell me we're going to be one of those couples who never has anything to say to each other."

"I would find that hard to believe," Paige said with wry look on her face.

"Are you saying I talk too much?" Hanna joked.

"No, I'm just saying it's kind of our thing. You talk..."

"And you pretend to listen..."

Paige started to blush a little. "Oops," she said, with a guilty shrug of her shoulders.

"It's all right," Hanna said. "I mean, talking isn't always about saying something to someone else. Sometimes, it's just nice to get the words out."

"And for me," Paige admitted, "It's nice to know that I don't have to worry about keeping up one end of the conversation. I can just relax and let you do all the work."

"Well, I guess we're perfect for each other," Hanna droned, rolling her eyes.

They looked at each other through another period of silence before Hanna admitted, softly "I wish I had kissed you before the formal."

"You do?"

"Yeah. That way, we could've gone to the formal like a real date, you know? I mean," she added quickly, "I'm not complaining about how the night went. We had fun, didn't we?"

"We did," Paige agreed enthusiastically, pausing to think it over. Well, you asked me out, I picked you up, we took pictures, danced all night, and we kissed at your front door. That sure sounds like a real date."

"I guess," Hanna chuckled.

Paige dipped her head and confessed, "I... I kind of had a hard time remembering that it wasn't a real date, at times."

Hanna gasped in agreement, turning onto Paige and grasping her shoulder. "I did too!" she practically shouted, excited to know that she and Paige were alike in that respect. "Especially with the way you kept squeezing me tighter on the dance floor!"

"Oh, God!" Paige, embarrassed, let her head crash onto Hanna's shoulder. "I just..." She sighed. "Reflexes, I guess."

"Don't apologize," Hanna urged her. "I liked it when you held me close. I liked that everybody could see that we were together. Even if we weren't really together." Hanna lowered her head and confessed, "My friends thought we were together." She peeked at Paige, who offered only a surprised smile. "I let them think it."

"Oh, great... does this mean they're going to start thinking I'm 'A' again?"

"Don't even joke about that, Paige!" Hanna winked at Paige to let her know that it was okay.

Paige took Hanna's hand and intertwined their fingers. "I have to say thank you. For watching out for me last night. I was really dreading being on my own while you hung out with your friends, but I don't think you left my side the entire time."

Hanna smiled, accepting Paige's thanks. "Well, it's true, I knew you didn't want to be left alone. But... that's not the only reason I stayed close."

"It wasn't?" Paige asked with a knowing smile.

Hanna mouthed the word "No," shaking her head as she moved in to kiss Paige. They were interrupted by the arrival of their food and the chuckle of the server who placed it on the table in front of them. "Young love," she said wistfully as she turned and headed back to the kitchen.

* * *

Paige and Hanna were in no hurry to leave the table after they finished their meal. The initial awkwardness was all but forgotten as they settled back into their pre-relationship comfort level. There was a feeling between them, unspoken but shared, that they needed to make the most of their Saturday together. Paige had a full day of training on Sunday, and, once Monday hit, they would be back into their school routine, with little time for each other. But they couldn't stay at the Shake Shack forever. A sign behind the counter told them as much: When the restaurant was busy (as it was on a Saturday night), the management appreciated the cooperation of diners in freeing up their tables after they finished their meals.

"Is it too late for a movie?" Paige asked shyly, before they got up from the table.

"Too late for a movie? What are we, farmers?"

"Farmers?" Paige asked with a confused smile.

"Do you have to get up early and feed the chickens, milk the cows and... shit, I don't know - whatever farmers do on Sunday morning?" She gave Paige's shoulder a shove. "No, of course it's not too late. And, you don't even have to tell me what movie you're dying to see: Wonder Woman."

"No," Paige said quickly, and quickly added, "Well, yes - _I'm_ dying to see it. But I'd rather see something that we can both enjoy."

"Hey," Hanna said gamely, "I chose the last time. You sat through my movie, so I can sit through yours." She actually did want to see Wonder Woman - not the movie itself; what she really wanted was to see Paige get all excited and geeked out, as she expected Paige would, as she watched the movie. "Anyway," she added with a shy smile, sensing that Paige wasn't won over by the "your turn to choose" argument, "I kind of have a thing for girls who can kick ass!" She gave Paige a sly wink, so there could be no doubt whom she was referring to.

* * *

As Paige drove, Hanna got on her phone and managed to find a theater that wasn't too far and still had tickets available. The movie was a polar opposite to the movie Hanna had chosen for them to see together, but neither one of them was disappointed. As Hanna expected, Paige got incredibly into it, and often looked over at her with the expression of an child seeing live fireworks for the first time. And there was the added bonus that Hanna got to squeeze Paige's arm and bury her head in Paige's shoulder for the scary and bloody parts. That was a bonus for Paige, as well.

Somewhere during the course of the film, the action on the screen started to pale in comparison to the action in their seats, once their lips remembered that they were allowed to make out with each other. At first, they tried to be subtle, only indulging their hunger during the nighttime scenes, when the theater was relatively dark. After a while, though, their hormones took over, and it didn't matter what anybody else thought. Paige made a mental note that their next movie would have to be on Netflix, in the comfort and privacy of home.

* * *

"Sorry," Hanna said, not really sorry, as they walked to Paige's car. "I know you really wanted to see the rest of that movie."

Paige couldn't stop herself from bursting out laughing. "If you think for a second that I have any regrets about missing that movie..."

Hanna smiled knowingly. "You're going to go see it again, by yourself, aren't you?"

Paige shrugged, busted. "Or take someone I'm not interested in making out with."

Hanna kissed Paige's cheek, squeezing her hand a little tighter.

"Still works," Paige said softly to herself.

"Hmm?"

Paige chuckled. "Before we were..." Paige paused, unsure of the appropriate word, "... together, I used to love those little kisses on the cheek that you gave me from time to time. And, now, even after we spent most of the day making, it turns out that little kiss still sent a chill down my spine."

* * *

"Well," Hanna said coyly, "here we are again, at my front door!" Her hands were linked behind her back and her shoulders were angled inward. "Do you kiss on the first date, Paige McCullers?"

Paige smirked, grabbing Hanna by the shoulders, remembering that Hanna like hard kisses. "Try to stop me." She closed in and backed away, suddenly. "But, I mean, if you really did want me to stop, I'd stop, of course. I didn't mean to imply that you couldn't stop me if you..."

Hanna let out a long, loud grunt, switching positions with Paige and slamming her against the door. "Oh, just kiss me already!"

* * *

Hanna was still on a new-relationship high on Monday morning, as she and Paige walked to class. Paige was considerably more subdued. "Stop it," she said, playfully at first, wriggling out of Hanna's grip as Hanna tried to hold her hand. When Hanna persisted, though, Paige barked the words again, with more authority, and put a bit of distance between herself and Hanna. Hanna pouted. Paige rolled her eyes, only slightly smiling.

"Paige…" Hanna whined, stretching two syllables out of the name. From behind, she put her arms over Paige's shoulder and kissed the back of her neck.

"Seriously," Paige said, elbowing Hanna away. She was starting to sound annoyed.

"You love it," Hanna insisted. Her tone was still playful, despite the lack of enthusiasm from Paige.

"Fine, I like it, whatever," Paige conceded. "But we're just walking to class, Hanna. This isn't a date."

"Yes, it is," Hanna countered cheerfully, trying again to kiss Paige. "It's a walking date." She stood in front of Paige, blocking her path and stared her down. Paige relented with a sigh, giving Hanna a quick, perfunctory kiss. Hanna, only encouraged by that minor breakthrough, leaned in again but Paige backed away, looking around to see who may have been watching them.

"Come on," Paige whispered sharply, moving forward.

Hanna was struggling to make sense of Paige's sudden aversion to public displays of affection. Paige hadn't seemed shy about it at all on Saturday, and, even though Paige's training schedule kept them from seeing each other on Sunday, they had texted for about an hour, and Paige hadn't complained about anything.

All of a sudden, Hanna stopped dead in her tracks, her hands on her hips. She remembered something that Emily told her, and suddenly, it all made sense.

Paige met Emily at a karaoke bar out on Chester Pike - and, later, she met her for a secluded picnic out in the woods. But she wouldn't go to a concert with her, where people they knew could see them.

When Paige realized that Hanna had dropped out of step with her, she turned around to see what was going on.

"Paige, are you ashamed of me?" Hanna's voice was blunt and sober.

"What?" Paige managed a dismissive chuckle.

"Well, I know you're not ashamed of liking girls, so…"

"Hanna." Paige approached her slowly, taking both Hanna's hands in hers. "That's not it, I swear. It's just…" Paige breathed deeply. "Look, can we just talk about this somewhere private?"

"Don't treat me like a baby, Paige." Paige opened her mouth to protest, but Hanna pressed on. "This is obviously important to me, and I'd like to think that I'm important to you."

"Hanna." Paige led her to a bench and sat down next to her. "Look, I… it's just…" Paige shook her head, sighing heavily. Hanna took Paige's chin and turned her head, forcing Paige to look her in the eyes.

"Just tell me, Paige," she said with a hint of sadness. "If you're not happy with what's going on with us, just tell me."

"Hanna, you mean more to me than… I ever thought anyone could, after Emily. I mean, you took me from an extremely dark place and helped me live again…"

"You don't owe me anything," Hanna said, her voice still and sad. "No one wants to be someone's date just out of obligation."

"No!" Paige said sharply. "God no, Hanna. I don't feel obligation. I…" Paige let out a deep breath. "I _like_ you. Like, really like you."

Hanna smiled weakly. "Really?" As much as she wanted to believe it, Paige's actions were saying the opposite.

"Look, I just…" Paige ran her fingers through her hair and started again. "With Emily it was… I never knew when it was going to be over. One minute we were strong, and the next minute, she didn't want anything to do with me. So I had to build up walls, you know? I had to… find a way to protect myself. And, now, this beautiful, fun, totally likable woman starts showing interest in me… I just…. It's hard for me to get my hopes up. And, I guess… I guess I'm afraid that people will see us together, and then you'll dump me, and everyone will say – 'Oh, there goes Lonesome Paige McCullers! She lost another one.'"

"Is this because I'm not… because I've never dated a girl before?"

Paige hadn't thought about that. Not really; not after she truly got to know Hanna, and learned that Hanna didn't really overthink where her attractions lay. If anyone exemplified the statement, "Love is love," it was Hanna.

"No, Hanna," Paige assured her. "It's not you. I'm the problem."

Hanna dreaded the rest of Paige's explanation. She was all too familiar with the "It's not you" line.

"I just," Paige stammered, "it seems too good to last." Paige gripped Hanna's hand, to stay connected, even though she couldn't look her in the eyes.

"That's how I feel sometimes, too," Hanna admitted. "I mean, I still look in the mirror every day and see Hefty Hanna. If I let myself. And I wonder how long you're going to want to be with me. I mean, be honest, Paige. What would you do if Emily suddenly came to her senses and realized that she wanted you back?"

Paige, who had opened mouth, preparing to respond, when Hanna started her question, was dumbfounded. That wasn't the question that she had been anticipating. She had expected Hanna to ask for reassurance that Paige liked her, but she hadn't seen the "Emily" card coming. She sat frozen for a moment, until she heard Hanna speak again, her voice weak and trembling.

"Shit, Paige!"

All of a sudden, Paige realized how her reaction must've looked to Hanna, who had stood up, with her back to Paige, one arm across her waist, one hand on her forehead.

"Hanna," Paige pleaded.

"Try not to think about it too long!" Hanna spat bitterly and started to walk away. Paige caught up to her and grabbed her by the wrist. "Let go of me," she gurgled through the lump in her throat. All eyes turned on them at that point.

Paige gave an embarrassed smile to the people who had started staring . She caught up to Hanna again, this time with a soft, "Please."

"All this time," Hanna said, her head and her voice shaking, "I tried to convince myself that you were over her. That I wasn't just a substitute. That you might actually have feelings for me."

"I _do_ have feelings for you, Hanna," Paige said earnestly, repeating, "I _like_ you." Hanna kept shaking her head. "I was just... I didn't expect that question. It caught me off guard."

"So you expect me to believe that you've never wondered..." Hanna yelled accusingly

"No," Paige said firmly. "Honestly, Hanna, I stopped thinking about getting back with Emily a long time ago. And, since we've been together - even when it was just as friends - I... I've barely thought about Emily at all."

"So how come you couldn't answer me?" Hanna's voice was desperate. She wanted to believe Paige, and she wanted to believe that there had been a reason for her silence.

Paige took a deep breath. "I guess... I mean, with Emily, I was always the one who was afraid that she'd leave. I was the one who was easy to let go of. I've never been on Emily's side of the equation before, you know? It's just hard to believe that someone is afraid of... losing _me_." Hanna's shoulders relaxed, as her fears started to ease. Paige put her hand on her cheek. "Hanna, I know firsthand how much it sucks to feel like that in a relationship. I don't want to make you feel like that, ever."

Hanna nodded. "I don't. Not most of the time. But sometimes, it's hard not to."

"Especially when you feel like hugging and I'm acting all distant?"

Hanna smiled and looked away from Paige's eyes, slightly embarrassed at her insecurity. "Yeah," she admitted, "Exactly."

Paige extended her hand to Hanna and said, in her most melodramatic voice, "Fine! You may hold my hand!"

Hanna's mouth went wide with shock at that statement, and she laughed as she took Paige's hand, using it to pull Paige close enough to wrap her arm around Paige's waist defiantly. "Worst girlfriend ever!" Paige laughed and stretched her arm around Hanna's waist. "You like me," Hanna cooed, using Paige's earlier admission to tease her.

"Yeah, I do." Paige sighed contentedly.

Hanna chuckled, giving Paige a kiss on the cheek and squeezing her tighter around the waist. "I like you, too."

* * *

Hanna looked down at her coffee cup, which she was spinning slightly back and forth. Her voice was low and somber. "Thanks for meeting me here."

"Okay," Emily said skeptically, not sure why Hanna was reaching out to her after having outright avoided her ever since she dumped Paige. Or, more precisely, ever since she started dating again, after dumping Paige.

They were looking at each other with the expression of friends who used to be; who were trying to figure out what they had become, where they stood, and whether they could ever be friends again; both afraid to make a move that might be misinterpreted or used by the other to gain advantage.

But Hanna had made the first move. She had asked Emily to meet her.

Hanna realized that she needed to get out in front of the story with Emily. Soon, there would be pictures and videos on Instagram. Even if Emily was no longer following Paige – or Hanna – they had mutual friends who would fill her in. And, for that matter, even without social media, word gets around. People talk. And Emily's new love interest was notorious for having eyes everywhere. Emily had to have known about the formal. She might have even known about the kiss afterwards. But Hanna was pretty sure that she didn't know that she and Paige were together. Not yet, at least.

Hanna was having a hard time getting started, so Emily, impatient with the suspense, blurted out, "I know about your little bromance with my ex," her voice heavy with spite. Hanna looked up in shock that Emily couldn't even say Paige's name anymore. She started to say something but faltered, so Emily continued. "Is that what this is about? She sent you to deliver a message? Let me guess – 'That girl is dangerous; stay away from her'? Or maybe that she and I have a connection, and she'd do anything to get me back?"

Hanna sank back against the padding on her side of the booth. She couldn't believe that Emily was still spewing bile over Paige. In her indignation, any thoughts of sparing her friend's feelings flew out of the window. "Actually," she said, a smile breaking across her face, "it _is_ about Paige. But she didn't send me. She doesn't know I'm here."

"Hanna," Emily began, her voice weary and dripping over with condescension, "I know what you're going to say, okay? Yes, she's a great girl, yes, she still loves me, but, no, we're not getting back together. That door is closed. And you know that I've moved on."

Hanna had had enough of the attitude. She wasn't going to sit there and have Emily trash the woman she liked. She stood up in a huff and announced, "Well, actually, I just wanted to let you know that Paige and I are dating. I thought you should hear it from me before you stumbled across something on Insta or twitter. But I guess you don't give a shit." Hanna reached for her purse and headed for the door.

"Wait, what?" Emily called out behind Hanna as Hanna walked purposefully towards the door. "Hanna?" Emily said, raising her voice and repeating, "Hanna!" to no avail.

Hanna was livid. For the first time, she fully understood how Emily had felt when the rest of the girls held their intervention, accusing Paige of being "A". As she was about to open the door and walk out, she felt Emily's hand on her shoulder. Letting her shoulders drop in frustration, she headed back to the table. Emily deserved an explanation, at least.

Emily took a couple of breaths, attempting to calm herself, and to come to grips with the news. "Okay, Hanna," she said, as evenly as she could muster. "You got me. I actually thought that you were serious for a minute." Emily didn't sound amused in the least. There was a definite bite in her tone.

"Em, I'm totally..."

"Since when are you gay?" Emily spat, rage visible on her face.

"I don't know what I am," Hanna said sadly. "I just know that Paige and I..."

"Paige and you." Emily scoffed. "Yeah right!"

"Emily," Hanna pleaded, but Emily cut her off.

"You think I don't know what this is? You're fucking with me because you don't approve of the person I'm dating."

"What?" Hanna was equal parts shocked and angry at the accusation. "That's what you think is going on?"

"Hanna, you've been avoiding me ever since I dumped Paige. And, now, all of a sudden, you're gay? And you're dating her? Dating my ex?"

Hanna was fighting back tears, remembering when she and Emily had been friends. Remembering how, when Emily was struggling with her sexuality, Hanna accepted her. "I don't believe you, Emily."

"I don't believe you!"

"I was there for you. With Maya. I told you it didn't matter. You can't control the person you're attracted to."

"Maya wasn't your ex," Emily snapped. "You crossed a line, Hanna. What if Spencer all of a sudden decided she wanted to date Caleb?"

Hanna opened her mouth to say something but closed it again, shaking her head. "You know what, Emily? I came here because I didn't want you to have to find out the wrong way. Whatever we are to each other now, I wanted to spare you that. But you believe what you want. I don't care anymore."

For the second time, Hanna stormed toward the door. She was grunting to herself, and she had to take a moment to calm down before she trusted herself to drive. She tilted her head down, touching her fingers to her forehead.

She couldn't help being haunted by Emily's words and what she had implied. She thought back on her relationship with Paige, examining her motives all the way back to the first time she reached out to her at her lunch table. She hadn't been looking for a relationship with Paige, and, although, in a sense, approaching Paige the way she did was taking Paige's side over Emily's, Hanna could honestly say that she was trying to get back at Emily. "It just happened," she said out loud, wishing she could have said that to Emily.

Hanna saw the door open and Emily step outside. she quickly calmed herself down and put the car into gear, heading to Paige's house.

Hanna circled the block around Paige's house two or three times – she lost count. She was distracted. And she didn't know whether she should tell Paige what Emily had said. She wasn't sure whether it was worse to tell her and hurt her feelings or to lie to try to protect her. Finally, with a sigh of determination, she pulled up in front of Paige's house and rang the doorbell.

Paige peeked out of her window before she headed downstairs to answer the door. She smiled at the sight of Hanna's car parked out front. "Hey," she said with a kiss. "I wasn't expecting to see you tonight!"

Hanna smiled nervously, hugging herself as she stood in the doorway.

"Is everything okay?"

Hanna nodded unconvincingly. "I just need to tal…" Hanna, stammering, tried again. "I just need… to tell you something."

"Okay…" Paige angled her head with a suspicious look on her face. Hanna took her hand, squeezing it tighter than normal. "Why do I feel as if this is going to be the shortest relationship in history?" Paige said sadly.

Hanna let go of Paige's hand and wrapped her arm around Paige's waist, rubbing her back as they headed towards the steps. "It's nothing like that, I promise."

Hanna took a seat on Paige's bed, stretching out her hand to beckon Paige to sit next to her there. Paige kept her distance, rocking back and forth as she looked down at Hanna on the bed. There was worry etched on her face, despite Hanna's assurance that she wasn't there to break up with her.

"Okay," Hanna said, looking down, when she realized that Paige wasn't going to sit next to her. "Well, I had a talk with Emily today." Hanna peeked up at Paige's reaction.

"You did?" Paige's expression soured. Judging from Hanna's behavior, Paige knew that it couldn't have gone well.

Hanna returned her attention to her hands, twisting her fingers together in her lap. She nodded. "I thought I should let her know about us, before, you know, she found out about it some other way."

"And how did that go?" Paige scoffed, skeptically.

Hanna wiped her eye with the back of her hand and shook her head. "Not so great," she choked out, forcing a laugh, which was followed by a sniffle.

Paige, now filled with concern, sat next to Hanna on the bed, putting her hand on one shoulder and reaching behind her back to rub the other. Hanna leaned into Paige and let herself start to cry. It hurt her that her former best friend had become so cold to her. But what hurt the most was Emily's attitude toward Paige. "I was trying to do the right thing," she squeaked out.

Paige stroked her hair. "You did do the right thing," she assured her. "You can't control how other people react."

"She was my _friend_ ," Hanna insisted. "My best friend."

"And she will be again." Paige kissed the top of Hanna's forehead. "You know Emily. When she gets stressed, she lashes out at the people closest to her. But, in the end, she's fair-minded. She just needs a bit of time to put things in perspective, and you guys will be best friends again. You'll see."

Hanna nodded her head against Paige's shoulder. She wanted to believe what Paige was saying, and she knew that what Paige said was true: Emily always did give people a fair shot. Still, Hanna had a hard time imagining that things would ever get back to the way they were before. Too much had changed – Emily's new relationship; Hanna's new relationship with Emily's old relationship. She was sure that they would once again be on speaking terms – maybe even on friendly terms. But she didn't think that there was any way to go back to the old days. She wasn't sure that she even wanted to.

But that wasn't important, right then, cuddling under Paige's arms as Paige gently comforted her.

Hanna gave her a kiss. She was learning to kiss Paige in new ways. The first kiss had been passionate; the second had been establishing; their kisses the following afternoon had been celebratory. The kiss she gave Paige there, in the comfort of Paige's arms, was like a hug, both a statement of unity and a transfer of energy. Hanna grabbed a fistful of Paige's shirt as she pressed her lips desperately against Paige's, wishing that the kiss would never end.

"Paige?"

"Yeah?"

"You don't think..." Hanna paused. "I wasn't trying... This isn't about Emily." Mona had thought that. Emily had thought that. Hanna needed to make sure that Paige didn't think that.

Paige leaned back to look at Hanna, her expression unsure.

"That's not why I started hanging out with you," Hanna explained.

Paige gave her a soft kiss. That thought hadn't entered her mind. She had been there, after all, from the beginning, so she knew how their feelings for each other had grown. "I believe you," she said, knowing that Hanna needed to hear that she was believed.

* * *

"Hey." Emily was fidgety, biting her lip and hugging herself, with one arm dangling.

"Hey," Hanna repeated warily.

"I... um. I wanted to say, I get what you said the other day. I should've been there for you."

"Okay." Hanna was still eyeing Emily suspiciously.

"And I know you're not dating Paige to get back at me. You..." Emily's voice softened "You wouldn't do that."

"Thank you," Hanna said, with a slight nod of her head. "I know all of this can't be easy for you."

"Yeah," Emily admitted, turning her eyes towards the ground. "Because, even though I know you weren't trying to hurt me, it really hurt." Emily's voice started to break. "I was going through a difficult time. And it felt as if all of my friends were abandoning me. And, when you started hanging out with Paige, it really felt as if you were taking her side."

Hanna lowered her head, realizing that was exactly what she had done.

"I get that you don't approve of whom I'm dating." Her voice was high-pitched and breaking. "But I didn't know that meant you couldn't still be my friend!"

Hanna pulled Emily into a hug. They both had tears streaking down their cheeks. "We _are_ friends," Hanna assured her. "God, I'm so sorry, Emily." Hanna exhaled deeply. "In all this, I never stopped to think that you were all alone, too."

Emily sniffled, forcing a laugh. She nodded her head to let Hanna know that she was okay; that _they_ were okay. "Thank you," she said sincerely "for letting me know that you were dating Paige. I... I don't think I could've handled it if I'd found that out some other way."

"Yeah," Hanna said softly.

"So," Emily said, putting on a brave face and trying to move on. "You're into girls now? We'll have to go out and get a pink drink!"

Hanna laughed out loud. "I'd like that," she said. "Just the two of us - like old times."

Emily was slightly deflated at Hanna's words. It was a little much to think that the four of them could double. But she held onto hope that, someday, Hanna, at least, would be able to get along with her girlfriend.

* * *

"I have to ask you something."

"Okay." Paige's back straightened, and she loosened her grip on Hanna.

Hanna rolled over so that she was facing Paige. She laid a nervous hand on Paige's cheek. Hanna's behavior was making Paige nervous, too. She took Hanna's hand from her cheek and interlaced their fingers.

"Would it bother you..." Hanna took a quick look into Paige's eyes and looked away. "... if I started hanging out with Emily again?"

Paige rolled onto her back, letting go of Hanna's hand. Hanna leaned up on an elbow, her face twisted in concern. "Paige?"

"I can't tell you whom you can and can't hang out with, Hanna," she said flatly, her gaze fixed on the ceiling.

"I didn't ask whether or not I could do it. I asked whether it would bother you."

Paige leaned up on an elbow, mirroring Hanna's posture. She stared into her eyes as she thought. Eventually, she sighed, "Yes."

"Then I won't," Hanna said with a shrug.

"I think you should," Paige replied softly.

"I don't want to if it's going to bother you, Paige."

Paige exhaled deeply, stroking Hanna's hair. "Look, I won't lie and say that it wouldn't bother me if you two started hanging out. But it would bother me more if you didn't." Hanna looked confused. "I know how important your friendship is. I always envied a friendship like that. And I wouldn't want to deprive you of that. Not for the sake of my feelings."

Hanna nodded, but there was regret on her face.

"One thing I've learned about being in a relationship is that what's best for me isn't necessarily what's best for us. And I think you getting together with Emily would be best for us." Paige kissed Hanna softly. "Okay?"

"Okay." Hanna wanted to suggest that, perhaps someday, the three of them would be able to get together, but she knew that the timing wasn't right. She wasn't going to rush it. And she wasn't going to play up her friendship with Emily around Paige. But she wouldn't let go of the dream that the three of them could, one day, find a path to friendship.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N - Yeah, I know this chapter is like a big stew, with everything in the whole kitchen thrown in... I'm trying to keep this to 10 chapters, so I have to gloss over a lot of details. Anyway, I'm sorry if it feels rambling and disjointed... :)
> 
> I need to give credit to the movie "ToY" again, which inspired the scene where Hanna's affectionate and Paige is distant. I posted the scene to YouTube... FF won't let me post a link, but if you want to watch it, just open up any YouTube video and replace the part at the end (after the equals sign) with this: oobacysjRvc
> 
> Thanks so much for reading! :)


	8. Scars

"So, I took one look at the woman behind the counter, and I'm thinking - 'Ooh - This chick is going to be nothing but trouble!' So, when I got up there, I started talking with a French accent."

"You started talking with a French accent?"

Hanna nodded quickly, acknowledging Paige's question but not wanting to get bogged down by it. "Uh huh. Everyone knows you get better service if they think you're French. It's a way to establish dominance. I mean, who knows fashion like the French?"

Paige looked as if she had something to say, but she gave up, shaking her head "never mind" instead.

"Anyway," Hanna continued, lapsing subconsciously into a French accent as she talked about it, "so I'm talking to her in a French accent, and, all of a sudden, my phone rings. And, of course, it couldn't be Mona or Aria - or, you know - anyone who'd play along. It had to be Spencer. And I can't let this woman hear me try to explain into my phone why I'm talking with a fake French accent. So, I pretend that I'm a French person, trying to pull off a fake American accent..."

Paige chuckled. "How does that even work?"

"You know - still roll the Rs, but just not as much, and try to make the Z in 'the' sound more like 'zthe.'" Hanna was demonstrating as she explained.

Paige kept shaking her head. "You're too much, Hanna."

"Hey - it worked! She didn't try to jerk me around on the inventory!"

"And, I guess, now I know just to play along if you ever pick up the phone and start talking with a French accent when I call you."

Paige was smiling enthusiastically, but Hanna suddenly became subdued. Paige nudged her to ensure that she was okay, but Hanna just kept her eyes fixed on their server, who had dropped by the table with menus and a couple of glasses of water.

The woman was tall - about two inches taller than Paige, by Hanna's reckoning. She was dressed all in black; shiny black slacks and a tiny little clingy black top that wasn't doing much to hide her tan, her tattoos, or her tits. She looked hard, like the kind of woman who could casually toss Paige over her shoulder and haul her back to her cave, if she wanted to. And Hanna was sure that Paige would want her to. Hanna's eyes trailed her as she walked away to give them a moment to look over the menus. When she was back in the kitchen, Hanna's shoulders drooped. Paige, concerned, squeezed her arm. "Hanna? Are you okay? Do you know that girl?

Hanna looked at Paige with a sad smile. "I'm going to lose you to someone like that, aren't I?"

"Huh?" Paige was having a hard time catching up.

Hanna sighed, staring blankly at the cover of the menu. "My biggest fear, back when we first started dating, used to be that I would lose you to Emily. But, since then, I've realized that there are dozens of girls out there who could snatch you from me just as easily."

"Hanna…" Paige's voice was patient and comforting.

"Let's face it, Paige. Emily wasn't just your first girlfriend. She was your first love. And that kind of thing changes you. The first time you fall in love, you're all in. You give yourself fully; you shape your life to fit the other person's. But it's different the second time. After the first love, you learn to hold on loosely, not to fall so hard, not to give your heart away. They say a broken bone gets stronger when it heals, but, really, it just gets harder. It's the same with a broken heart. It just becomes harder."

Paige took hold of Hanna's hands and squeezed them as she thought over everything Hanna was saying. Hanna seemed to be contradicting herself; saying that it wasn't about Emily, but then bringing it back to Emily. Paige put it down to fear - or insecurity. Hanna might not have known what she was afraid of, so she was lashing out at everything. Or maybe she knew what it was about, but was too afraid to admit it. "Hanna," Paige said softly, "why don't you tell me what this is really about?"

Hanna exhaled deeply and smiled, with a faint sniffle. Paige brushed her thumb across Hanna's cheek. "Do you want to know what really scares me, Paige?" Paige nodded. "I mean, I've been into girls for like two minutes. I don't even know the lingo - I don't know... " Hanna looked at the ceiling and blew out a puff of air. "... anything. I don't know who makes the first move, or even what the moves are. I mean, the only experience I have is with boys, and, let's face it, that's not going to help me here."

"Hanna," Paige began again, "I don't care if you're that you've had experience with boys or girls or whatever. I only care that you're with me. Now. And I'm with you. That's enough."

"Not really," Hanna said sadly, idly twiddling the corner of her menu.

Paige took Hanna's arm, coaxing her to look at her. "So, is this about... are you worried about... taking the next step?"

"No…" Hanna looked away. "Not really. Not totally."

"Listen, Hanna. I love _you_ ," Paige said earnestly. I'm not just hanging in here with you for sex…"

Hanna sighed and angled her body towards Paige, pulling her right leg, the one that was between them, up onto the seat. "I know," she pleaded, "but what if I'm no good? Or what if I can't? What if we get together and I find out I can't do it with a girl?"

"Do you love me, Hanna?"

Hanna nodded.

"And I love you. And, right now, that's all that matters. And, when the time comes for us to take the next step, it's going to be beautiful, because we love each other and we'll both be ready, okay? But, until then, let's not worry about it." Paige gave Hanna a wink. "Aren't you the one who taught me to live in the moment?"

Hanna nodded. "I just… I see these girls, and they're smart and they're pretty and they… know what they're doing with another girl. How am I supposed to compete with that?"

"You're not," Paige said confidently. "Because it's not a competition. Look, Hanna. I want to be with you. Only you. I'm not out there looking for a better deal." Paige straightened her posture, turning slightly away from Hanna and towards the table. "Trust me, I know what it feels like to worry that your girlfriend could suddenly toss you aside in favor of someone else. I mean, after all, I was in a relationship with a serial dater for the past year and a half." Paige nudged Hanna, and Hanna obliged with a smile. "And that's why I would never do that to you, Hanna. Believe me: When I'm with you, I'm with _you._ " Paige turned back towards Hanna and wrapped her up in a hug. When she sensed that Hanna was feeling better, she dared a joke. "Besides – how do I know that you won't decide that you're into guys again?"

Hanna smiled at Paige's attempt to make her feel better. But she answered her seriously. "I... don't know what I'm into, Paige." She looked into Paige's eyes, to see how she was taking the news. She had to be honest. "I still see guys and they leave me kind of breathless. And sometimes I can't help thinking about what it would be like..." Hanna tightened her lips and shook her head. "And I see girls, and maybe I think - 'Well, she's hot...' - but it doesn't make me want to..." Paige nodded her head, trying to absorb everything that Hanna was saying. "And then I see you. And you're funny, and you're caring and strong... and you love me. And, when I'm with you and we're making out, I just really want you inside me. And then I start to get nervous, because I see you and me, naked, and it's right in front of me, and... I'm not sure I can, Paige."

Paige chuckled. She pulled Hanna into her side, and pressed Hanna's head onto her shoulder. "You're putting an awful lot of pressure on yourself, Han. You just need to relax."

Hanna lifted her head from Paige's shoulder. "How can I relax, Paige, when I really want to be with you, but I'm terrified at the thought of... actually being with you?"

"Well, did you have feelings like this before you ever slept with a guy?"

Hanna smiled. "I remember when they talked about it in health class, saying, 'There's no way I'm letting anybody put one of those inside there!'"

Paige laughed. "But you did..."

"Yeah... and it was... not good."

"No?"

"Not the first time, no," Hanna sighed, shaking her head at the memory. "I wasn't ready."

"What about the first time with Caleb?"

Hanna smiled and relaxed her head onto Paige's shoulder again. "I get it, Paige."

Paige kissed the top of her head. "I want our first time to be something that you remember fondly. Not as something that you did just to get it out of the way, or to prove something. Or because _I_ wanted it. When we're both ready, it'll be amazing."

Hanna sat up and looked Paige in the eyes. "Was that what your first time was like?"

Paige took a deep breath. "Pretty much. I mean, I was nervous. Terrified, really. Even though I was ready - even though the timing was right and... my body was definitely ready - I... I didn't know what I was doing. And I was afraid I wouldn't measure up to Maya."

"But you figured it out?"

Paige smiled. " _We_ figured it out. I guess that's what the first time is. I mean, after all, even though it wasn't Emily's first time, it was her first time with me, so, we both had to figure it out. But we loved each other, and we wanted it, and... it was amazing. And it wasn't because I was good, or she was good, or it was earth-shattering sex. It was because we trusted each other enough to give ourselves to each other completely, with no regrets. That's way more important than the physical part." Paige looked into Hanna's eyes and whispered, "But, for the record, I was _gooood!_ "

Once again, Paige had gotten Hanna to smile, and even to relax a little. "So it's okay for me to be nervous?"

"Of course. I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't nervous about our first time."

Hanna put her hands on Paige's cheeks and kissed her. It was just a simple kiss, and Hanna wasn't expecting it to send a tingle between her legs. But then, it wasn't just the kiss. It was everything that Paige said, and everything that Paige had done to make her feel secure and loved and…

Ready.

"Paige, are your parents still in Harrisburg?" Hanna's voice was seductive; soft and deep.

"I… they… wha… what do you mean?" There was no mistaking the meaning behind Hanna's question, but Paige definitely hadn't been expecting it.

Hanna put her hand on Paige's thigh. Her eyes were saying, "You know exactly what I mean."

"Hanna, are you sure?" Hanna bit her lip and nodded with a slight smile. "Because people like to treat this as if it's not a big deal, but it really is. And if it happens when we're both ready, then it's a beautiful thing, but if not… Well, we never get a second chance at the first time."

Hanna stood up slowly. Paige followed her with her eyes, not sure where she was going or whether or not to follow. Hanna moved to the other side of the table so that she could look Paige directly in the eye and hold her hands. "I'm ready, Paige…" Paige could feel the trembling in Hanna's hands. She saw the hint of fear in Hanna's eyes. She knew that there was more to the story. "I need to do this tonight," Hanna whispered.

Paige looked at her quizzically. "You don't have to do this for me."

Hanna cupped Paige's cheek, looking deep into her eyes. She didn't know how to tell why it had to be that night. She took a deep breath and summoned her courage. She had to be honest with Paige.

"Paige, the truth is, I've wanted to take the next step with you for some time, now. And, if you had been a guy, we would have." Hanna took a quick look at Paige's face, to see how she was reacting to that statement. "I know what to do with a guy. I know I'm not going to be in face to crotch with a guy and freak out. But I don't know whether I can go down on a girl like that."

"Hanna," Paige said reassuringly, "you don't have to do anything you're not ready for."

"But that's just it, Paige." Hanna squeezed Paige's hands, to convey urgency. "I do. I do have to. Because I'm never going to get past these fears until I face them. I can't just get over this by psyching myself up in the mirror or watching girl-on-girl porn. Believe me," she huffed sadly, "I've tried."

Paige realized that this was different from the pattern in the rest of their relationship. Up to that point, Hanna had done everything for her. The study dates, the frequent hugs, the fall formal – even the modeling session; all had been done to ensure that Paige didn't feel alone. But, this time, Hanna was asking Paige to do something for her, to help her get past this fear.

"I want to, Paige," Hanna said again. "I just don't want it to suck for you." Hanna shot a half-smile at her unintended pun.

"Hey," Paige whispered, running her fingers through Hanna's hair. "Ever since Emily and I broke up, you've been taking care of me. Let's make tonight all about you, okay? Don't worry about me"

Hanna smiled shyly and nodded. She got up and rejoined Paige on the other side of the booth, this time scooting a little closer to her, resting her head on her shoulder.

Paige was nervously and impatiently tapping her fingers on the top of the table. "So, where the hell is that waitress?"

Paige, and to some extent, Hanna, really wanted to say "Fuck it!" and get on with the rest of their evening plans without waiting for dinner, but they did wait. In the end, the evening wasn't about rushing. It was about taking their time and savoring every moment.

* * *

Hanna looked absolutely beautiful as she stood in the doorway of Paige's bedroom, mostly undressed, but still in a couple of articles of lingerie for Paige to get her out of. Paige came up behind, sliding her arms around Hanna's waist and planting kisses on Hanna's neck. Hanna's head rolled in the direction of Paige's kisses, as she reached one hand behind Paige's neck and used the other to cover Paige's hands on her stomach.

Hanna turned around and forced a smile. "Remember," Paige reminded her, "there's no pressure on tonight, okay? Whatever happens happens. And whatever doesn't will happen eventually." Paige nodded, hoping to get confirmation from Hanna.

Hanna cupped Paige's face in her hands and kissed her for all she was worth. She realized that this wasn't about male or female. It was about giving herself to the person she loved. This is was what she had been looking forward to, sharing her complete love with the person she loved completely.

Paige led her over to her bed and sat down next to her. Their kisses and touches became more intense and purposeful; more desperate.

Hanna lifted Paige's shirt over her head, smiling at what she had unveiled. She couldn't resist the urge to tickle Paige's sides just a little as she worked her way down from Paige's shoulders to her waist. She rubbed Paige's stomach, planting kisses in and around her navel, smiling up at Paige between kisses. There was a whiff of excitement in the air, and of danger, somehow. This was going to be Hanna's first time. It's always a first time, of course, with a new partner. But, on the cusp of her first time with Paige, Hanna felt like a virgin again.

Hanna pushed Paige's bra up and out of the way, with a devilish smirk at what lay beneath. "Sorry," Paige said softly, with a smile. "No chest hair."

Hanna laughed out loud, caught off guard. "Okay, that's just weird, Paige." Hanna cupped Paige's breasts, rubbing her thumbs across the nipples. "What you have here is just fine."

Paige let out a breathless moan, tilting her head back. The touch of Hanna's hands reminded her of the night in Hanna's studio, when Hanna dressed her. "You know," she whispered, "when we went to the fall formal? I wore one of those disposable bras you taught me about?"

"Oh, really?" Hanna was now massaging Paige's breasts with her full hands. "Were you expecting to get lucky?"

Paige chuckled, breathing out a "No." She explained, "It was just my sexy little secret." Paige pulled Hanna's hands from her chest to her back and went back to kissing her.

Hanna pulled away for a moment to readjust the angle of the kiss. "Our secret," Hanna said softly. Paige furrowed her brow. "Come on, Paige; you were squeezing me so tight all night. You don't think I could tell that you didn't have a strap in the back?"

Paige smiled at the memory, and at Hanna's powers of discernment. All of a sudden, she stood up and extended her hand to Hanna, helping her up and pulling her in close. "That was one of the best nights of my life," she whispered, "dancing with you." As they stepped rhythmically around the room, with nothing in the way music and little in the way of clothing, but with hearts full of memories of that night, Paige confessed, "I wouldn't have minded if I'd gotten lucky that night."

Hanna pulled her down onto the bed. The time for dancing was over. "Well, you're definitely getting lucky tonight."

Hanna pulled Paige's hands onto her chest, coaxing Paige to relieve her of her bra. Paige took a moment to enjoy the feeling of them before she pushed the cups up and off, reaching behind Hanna to unhook its clasps. Hanna glanced shyly into Paige's eyes, hoping that Paige wasn't disappointed by what she saw. Paige gave her a kiss of reassurance.

Hanna shifted on the bed and started working on Paige's pants. Paige tried to hide her anxiety, resisting the urge to tense up as she felt Hanna undo the button on her jeans. She knew how fragile Hanna was at that moment; she didn't want to panic her. And she really hoped that what Hanna was about to see wouldn't freak her out.

Paige had grown accustomed to her scars. She hardly noticed them in the mirror anymore, although, of course, she could never forget that they were there. But she hadn't gotten used to the idea of letting other people see them. And Emily, the only other person who had ever actually seen them, had known about them before she saw them.

Paige knew that she should have warned Hanna before they reached this point. They should have had that conversation in a calm, clear-headed conversation, not in the heat of the moment. But she had thought that she had more time before their first time. She hadn't expected that night to be _the_ night. And by the time it became apparent that things were headed in that direction, Paige was too consumed with thoughts of ensuring that Hanna was okay.

In any event, it was too late for Paige to do anything about it. Hanna would have to discover what she was about to discover for herself. Paige felt bad for her. She didn't deserve that shock on top of everything else she had to process, her first time with a woman.

Hanna giggled giddily as she put her hands on either side of the fly in Paige's jeans and looked up to her, to ask whether she was ready. Paige closed her eyes and bit her lip. She felt the denim band loosen around her waist and heard the travel of the zipper. She felt Hanna's warm hands on her thighs; felt her index finger reverently trace the contour of one of the longer, more prominent scars.

Paige wasn't really surprised that Hanna hadn't reacted in disgust. But she _was_ surprised that Hanna didn't appear to be surprised.

"We've never talked about… these," Hanna said, running her finger up one thin, pink line and down another as she said the last word.

"And yet, you don't seem surprised by it," Paige scoffed, standing up and taking a step away from the bed.

"I'm sorry, Paige." Paige sighed heavily and turned her back to Hanna. Hanna stood up from the edge of the bed that she'd been sitting on and embraced Paige from behind.

"I don't blame _you_ ," Paige said, as evenly as she could manage.

Hanna smoothed her fingers over Paige's hair, rhythmically; repeatedly. "She didn't tell me," she said apologetically. "Not straight out. I mean, she told me what you had been through and… well, it wasn't hard to put the pieces together." Paige turned around slowly. Hanna dropped her arms to her sides. "I don't even think she knows that I know about them. And I know," she added hastily; desperately, "that she didn't tell any of the other girls."

Hanna rubbed Paige's shoulders soothingly before she lowered them to Paige's thighs again. "You know, Emily saw them as something to be pitied. When she talked about those times, it was almost as if you couldn't stand on your own, and she swooped in to rescue you. But that's not how I see it. To me, they're a sign of how strong you are. You found a way to survive when you could've given up on life. And, now, they're a reminder that you've found a way to move on."

Hanna put her hands around Paige's neck and kissed her softly. Paige kissed her back, but it was obvious that her mind was elsewhere.

Hanna sat back down on Paige's bed. Paige sat next to her, her body angled away from her. Hanna started combing her fingers through Paige's hair. "I know it must be a huge betrayal, for Emily to run to the arms of the girl who drove you to this." Paige turned to Hanna with a look of sheer panic.

"Oh, God, Han…"

"Hey…" Hanna caressed her cheek. "Shh." She pulled Paige's head onto her shoulder and rubbed her back. "She wouldn't tell her about it. I know she wouldn't."

Hanna hoped that what she had said was true. She knew, deep down, that Emily would never mention Paige's cutting vindictively, to humiliate her. But, at the same time, she knew the lengths that Emily would go to ingratiate herself to her "first true love." Even if that meant selling out the person who truly loved her.

Hanna kissed the top of Paige's head. "Why don't we just watch a movie tonight?"

"I'm sorry, Hanna."

"I'm not," Hanna said cheerfully. Paige chuckled sarcastically. Hanna looked deep into her eyes. "Paige, I feel closer to you now than I ever have before. Isn't that what making love is all about?"

"Tonight was supposed to be all about you. How does it always end up being about me?"

"Yeah, tonight just isn't my night, is it?" Hanna meant for that statement to lighten the mood, but Paige dipped her head guiltily. Hanna kissed her cheek softly. "You were right, Paige. There's no need to rush. When the mood is right and the time is right, it'll be worth the wait."

"Come here," Paige beckoned, wrapping her arms and her legs around her girlfriend. Something about Hanna's love - it's innocence and purity - had become an aphrodisiac for Paige. Their kisses became deeper and deeper. Hanna moaned from the back of her throat as she felt Paige's hands, lips and tongue on her nipples. Paige's left hand eventually wandered over to the lamp and she turned out the light.

"No," Hanna whispered. "Please. Leave it on. I don't want to miss a thing."

"Okay," Paige said. "Let's take it slowly." She kissed Hanna's lips, working her way down to her neck, with kisses between each of the next words she spoke. "Tonight," she reminded her, "…it's... all… about... you."

As slow and gentle as Paige intended to be, Hanna was having none of it. She was an all-in kind of person. She moved aggressively against Paige, and Paige, with the instincts honed from years of competitive sports kicking in, responded in kind. Soon, Hanna was helplessly on her back, her nails digging into the skin on Paige's shoulders.

 _Note to self_ , Hanna thought, _trim your nails next time._

Paige didn't take her eyes off of Hanna, as much as she could help it. At first, she was looking to make sure that Hanna was still okay as things progressed, but as the desire and abandon on Hanna's face began to build, Paige's eyes were locked on her because seeing her that way was turning her on even more. She fought with all that was in her to keep from losing herself in what was going on. She needed to be there for Hanna, to make sure she was okay. When she saw Hanna going over the limit, she stood her ground, to provide a safe landing.

* * *

Paige slid next to Hanna and gave her gentle kisses on her shoulder. "Are you okay?"

Hanna looked at her, her eyes barely open, and nodded, still unable to form words. She turned roughly to Paige, trying to get on top of her. "No, no, no," Paige said softly. "Just relax. Take it in."

Hanna laughed. "I can't take any more in, Paige. Not yet!"

Paige laughed, not because what Hanna said was particularly funny, but because it meant that Hanna was going to be okay. She stretched out her arm, and Hanna cuddled in, curling her hand into a fist next to Paige's breast as Paige caressed her hair.

"Do you know what this means?"

"What does it mean?" Paige's voice was soft and her expression somber. She knew that it was a solemn experience for Hanna, and she didn't want to treat it casually.

"It means that Emily and I are Eskimo sisters!"

Paige gasped in shock. "Hanna - you're not allowed to say..."

"I know, I know," Hanna said, her tone still playful. "I mean, come on, Paige, what's a gal supposed to say in a situation like this?"

"Um - pretty much anything but that?" Paige gave her a kiss on the forehead. "Seriously, though, are you okay?"

Hanna nodded. "Emily told me that you were caring and giving," Hanna said tentatively, not knowing whether she should still be talking about Emily in the middle of their special moment. But she wanted Paige to know that she appreciated the way that she handled her first time. "We never talked about specifics, of course. But she told me enough for me to know that I would be safe and taken care of." Hanna kissed her. "And I was. So... thank you."

Paige smiled wryly. "Well, she told me enough to know that you're a screamer!"

"Oh, she did, did she?" Hanna climbed on top of Paige and grabbed her arms, lifting them over her head in a submission hold. Hanna was no match for Paige physically, but Paige wasn't fighting back. She was just mirroring Hanna's smile as Hanna once again kissed her way down from Paige's lips to her waist. Hanna hesitated for a moment when she thought about what she was going to do. Paige lifted her head from the pillow, but Hanna covered her mouth before she could repeat that damned "you don't have to do anything you don't want to" phrase one more time. Hanna's hesitation wasn't from fear or disgust – or even the nerves that she'd been expecting. She hesitated out of reverence, wanting to take in every aspect of what she was about to do. With a devilish grin, she circled Paige's crotch with her finger, watching as Paige gasped and lifted off of the bed. Hanna didn't keep her waiting. And, as Paige had always told Hanna, the wait was worth it.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N - Slight nod to the movie ToY, again, for the dialogue about the scars. The scene in question is on YouTube, at 0t2C6hVMFmk
> 
> Thanks for reading! :)


	9. The Morning After

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: One question, by this chapter, how long have they been dating? - Guest
> 
> A: You know, I don't really keep a tight chronology in my head... :) - but my head-canon puts them somewhere around 6 weeks/2 months... Thanks so much for reading! :)

Hanna woke up to find Paige lying on her side, propped up on one elbow. She was smiling at Hanna and slowly tracing circles on her chest. "Hey."

"Hey," Paige parroted, in a husky morning voice. Her face suddenly turned concerned. "How do you feel?"

Hanna lifted her head off of the pillow and pulled Paige down for a kiss. "I feel wonderful," she said as their lips met again.

"I do, too."

The couple lay silently, staring at each other and reveling in the memory of the night before. Hanna followed Paige's eyes and giggled. "Never took you for a boob-man, McCullers!"

"Oh, I'm sorry," Paige said with a wry smile, not even pretending to shift her eyes away from Hanna's chest. "Was I staring?"

Hanna gave Paige a slow, lingering kiss, breathing out the word, "Perv," in her softest, most seductive tone as their lips separated.

"Don't pretend that you don't like it," Paige whispered in reply, returning the kiss.

"I never said that!" Hanna grabbed her breasts and brandished them playfully before she gave Paige another kiss, this one harder.

"You are so beautiful," Paige whispered.

Hanna gave her another kiss. "So are you." She yawned after a moment. "When are your parents getting back?"

"Don't worry. They won't be back till 1:30. Noon at the earliest."

"So... ten minutes ago?" Hanna asked nonchalantly. Paige laughed at Hanna's attempt at humor, but her laughter stopped abruptly when Hanna reached behind Paige's back and picked up Paige's phone, showing her the time.

"Holy shit!" Paige leapt from the bed in a panic and ran a hand through her hair. "How the fuck did I sleep so long?"

"I was goooood," Hanna teased.

Paige didn't have time to respond to Hanna's comment as she scrambled around her bed in a frantic attempt to track down her clothes. She was zooming back and forth between her bed and her dresser, trying to decide whether she should put on her clothes or her swimsuit, when she froze suddenly, realizing that she had a bigger problem.

"We've got to get you out of here!"

"Paige..."

"No! Like right now!" Paige pleaded urgently.

"Paige, I'm not going to hide away. I'm not going to be your dirty little secret!"

Paige dropped her left shoulder, all but begging. "Hanna, please!"

When Paige heard a car pull into the driveway, she gasped, grabbing Hanna by the shoulders and trying to figure out what to do with her.

Hanna, amused at Paige's frustration, shrugged her shoulders and playfully nudged her ribs with her elbow. "Guess it's time to meet the parents!"

Paige was having a full-on meltdown. "Hanna, you have no idea..."

"Oh, would you relax?" Hanna took Paige's face in her hands and kissed her. "It's only 8 something." Paige wasn't calming down, so Hanna slid across the bed and retrieved her own phone, the one which she hadn't set four hours ahead.

Paige's body relaxed for an instant when she saw the correct time on Hanna's phone, but, remembering he car in the driveway, she went into panic-mode again. "They came home early! They knew I was up to something, and they came home early to catch me in the act."

Hanna laughed at Paige's conspiracy theory. "Paige, you need to chill. It's just Spencer and Aria. I told them to meet us for breakfast."

"Oh..." Paige's face un-scrunched and she almost smiled, before realization of the full extent of Hanna's little prank sank in. Once it did, her face curled up in fake anger, though she couldn't stop herself from smiling. "Why, you little jokester..." Paige tackled Hanna onto the mattress. She had intended to torment Hanna for what she'd done, but her body was still tingling from the night before. Things quickly went in another direction.

"Uh, Paige," Hanna said, with hands on Paige's shoulders, although she made no attempt to stop what was happening, "I also told them where you hide your key."

Paige rolled off of Hanna and onto her back, hiding her eyes under her forearm with a sigh of frustration. She wasn't sure that she believed Hanna about the key, but she wasn't willing to take that chance. "Since when do you get up at 8:00 on a Saturday, anyway?" she grumbled.

"Since I have an opportunity to mess with my girlfriend!"

Paige kissed Hanna before she sat up on the bed. "Well, I'll go say hi to Spencer and Aria, but I'd better pass on breakfast," she said. She had gotten a reprieve; an extra four hours before she had to worry about her parents. But she knew there would be hell to pay if Nick McCullers got home and learned that she hadn't done her morning laps. "I need to hit the pool before my Dad gets back."

"You're kidding me." Hanna was indignant. Paige shook her head sadly. "Paige, you are not bailing out on me for our first post-sex meal!"

"Wouldn't you rather talk about last night with Spencer and Aria? You know, _without_ me there? You can gloat about how great I was?"

"There'll be plenty of time for that," ignoring Paige's sarcasm. "But, for now, I want to show you off." Paige started to say something, but Hanna took her hand. "We'll get you home before your parents get back. I promise. Just take a day off. How's he going to know?"

Paige kissed her. "I guess he won't," she conceded. She stood up and helped Hanna to her feet. "I don't know why I'm rewarding you, after what you did to me."

"Because you love me!" Hanna teased.

Paige rolled her eyes, but admitted that she did. Hanna got up on her knees on the bed and took Paige by the shoulder to giver her a kiss. "It was funny! Admit it!"

"So why haven't they let themselves in yet," Paige asked, calling Hanna's bluff about the keys.

"They're waiting for me to text them. I wasn't sure we'd be finished by 8:30."

"Oh, I'm not finished with you yet!"

* * *

Hanna waved and smiled at Paige as Paige made it over to the table for lunch. A lot of the time, they sat with Aria and Spencer at lunchtime. Usually, on days when Hanna was waiting for Paige at what used to be Paige's table, it meant that Hanna had something on her mind. Paige returned Hanna's smile, tucking her hair behind her ear as she sat down at the table. She was slightly worried about what Hanna wanted to talk about, but she hoped for the best.

After they exchanged the normal pleasantries and got caught up on how each other's morning had gone, Hanna stretched her hands out in front of her on the table, blowing out a lungful of air.

"Paige…"

"Yeah?" Paige's voice was tentative, but she was making eye contact.

"If you had a daughter… and she… started dating a boy… would you be disappointed?"

Paige resisted the urge to laugh. She could tell that this was serious business to Hanna. "Why?" she asked, in a faux-serious tone. "Is there something you need to tell me? I thought you were on the pill…"

"Ha ha," Hanna mocked dryly. "Oh!" her head perked up with the realization. "I guess I can get off the pill, now." She squeezed Paige's arm. "I never thought of that!"

Paige snickered. "The perks of dating a girl…"

"Yeah," Hanna said, her voice trailing off. "So, about that…"

"Would I have a problem?" Hanna nodded, frowning nervously. Paige, still trying to inject humor into the situation, leaned in, as if she were telling a secret. "Well, you know, Hanna, some of my best friends date boys." Hanna gave Paige's shoulder a slap. "Seriously," Paige chuckled, "why would that disappoint me?"

"I don't know…" Hanna sighed. "I mean, wouldn't you want your daughter to be open to your lifestyle?"

"My lifestyle?" Paige, again, stifled a laugh.

"You know what I mean."

"Look, Hanna. I had to deal with disappointment from my parents because I like women. Actually, as you know, I'm still dealing with it. I would never put that on a child – never. And you know as well as I do that it's not something you choose. I mean, you didn't choose to be attracted to me. So why would I object to that?"

Hanna shrugged her shoulders. "I guess I didn't really think you would."

Paige rubbed Hanna's shoulder. Hanna gave her a look, but then shook her head slightly. "What's wrong?"

Hanna sighed again. "Nothing," she said softly. "It's just… Well, when it comes to attraction…" Hanna was having a hard time proceeding. Paige took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. "Paige, is it okay that I'm still attracted to guys? I thought... after we slept together..."

"...that I would cure you?"

Hanna rolled her eyes. "You know what I mean."

"I do. But, I don't think it's something you have control over, Hanna," Paige said with a shrug.

"But, does it bother you?"

"It doesn't bother me that you're attracted to guys, no. I always knew that you were attracted to guys."

"Yeah, but, Paige, I'm not attracted to girls at all. Only you." Paige raised her eyebrows and smirked. "I mean… doesn't that strike you as odd?"

Paige took Hanna's other hand and looked into her eyes. "Yeah, I guess it's a little unusual. But I'm not really worried about it. The only thing that matters is that you love me. It doesn't matter if you're attracted to guys or girls – just as long as you're with me." Paige tilted her head to get a response from Hanna. Hanna smiled. "Does it bother you that I find other women attractive?"

Hanna moved her hand to Paige's cheek. "No, Paige." She kissed Paige's lips. "I trust you."

"Yeah," Paige husked through a smile. "I trust you, too."

* * *

Paige was studying with her headphones on later that night when the music was interrupted by a tone indicating that she had received a text. She smiled when she saw that it was from Hanna:

**HM: cn u let me in?**

Paige bounced down the stairs excited about seeing Hanna, but a little concerned. It wasn't like Hanna to stop by in the middle of the week unannounced. Paige opened the door with a smile and a hello. Hanna greeted her with a hug, which she ended with a kiss.

"Is everything okay?"

Hanna nodded and pointed to the stairs. Paige nodded her understanding and led the way to her bedroom.

Hanna wanted to go to Paige's room for the same reason that she texted, rather than ringing the doorbell: Paige's parents were home. For that same reason, Paige left the door ajar. Once they were on the other side of it, Hanna put her hands behind Paige's neck and kissed her. It was a different sort of kiss; not passionate or even romantic. It felt like the kiss of someone who needed to be reassured that everything was going to be all right.

"Hanna, is everything all right?" Hanna nodded and forced a smile, plopping down on Paige's bed. Paige sat next to her and held her hand, running her thumb over the back of it, trying not to look panicked about what could be going on. "So, how was your evening?"

Hanna gave Paige a gentle smile. She knew what Paige was trying to do, to ease her into sharing her problem. "It was okay," she said, her voice deeper than usual. "I talked to my Mom." Paige nodded. "I told her what we talked about, about me going off the pill." Hanna glanced at Paige, who, as much as she was trying to look normal, still had the look of someone who was waiting for the vet to give her the bad news about her pet hamster. "She told me," Hanna said, shaking her head in disgust, "that it's best for me to stay with it, in case I need to go back on it in the future."

"Oh!" Paige's head snapped back. "Oh, okay. Yeah, I guess I'd heard that, that it's best not to interrupt it."

Paige, although she was careful to practice safe sex, knew very little about birth control. She didn't really know anything beyond what she had learned in Health class, which, given the politics of small-town Rosewood, wasn't all that much. Fortunately, she had been spared that awkward conversation with her mother.

"Paige," Hanna said sharply, squeezing Paige's hand, "I don't need to go back on the pill. I don't want to date a guy again. Or a girl. I only want to date you!"

"Of course," Paige said softly, finally realizing why Hanna had been so upset. "I know that, Hanna, and I feel exactly the same." Paige stroked Hanna's thigh. "I only want to date you, too."

"And my Mom just…" Hanna shook her head and looked off to the side, as if she could cry at any second.

Paige smoothed her hand over Hanna's hair. "I'm sure your mom didn't mean it like that. I don't think she was questioning whether you could be serious about dating a girl. I think it's just... Well, you know how parents are. They don't think that high school romance is built to last."

Hanna made a sound that sounded halfway between a scoff and a laugh. She understood what Paige was saying. And she understood why her mother would think that. After all, whenever she'd had her little dalliances in the past, she always went back to Caleb.

Hanna wanted to make sure that Paige didn't think that, too. "Paige," she said, turning to face her again, "This isn't a fling, you know. Or a rebound. I'm serious about us. I think…" Hanna wasn't sure that she should continue, but she trusted her feelings and she trusted Paige's love. "I think we could have something really special."

Paige brushed the hair away from Hanna's face, on her way in for a kiss. "Maybe we already have," she whispered.

,Hanna fell back against the bed as the kissing continued. She was feeling overwhelmed, with the realization how serious things were with Paige; with Paige's admission that they had something special, and with the way that she was kissing Paige and their bodies were moving against each other. Hanna moved her hands from the back of Paige's thighs to Paige's chest, slowing things down. "God," she barked, "I _really_ wish your parents weren't home tonight."

Paige rolled off of her and lay on her back, staring at the ceiling, once that reality set in. Hanna cuddled up next to her, placing her hand flat on Paige's stomach underneath her top. "I really need you right now." She kissed the side of Paige's neck and started playing with her hair. "Would you want to go back to my house?"

Paige smiled. "Isn't your mom there?"

Hanna sighed sadly. Her mom wouldn't care about what she and Paige did in her bedroom, but Hanna knew that it wouldn't work. Ashley would want to talk to Paige when Paige came over, and, afterwards, they would have to find the mood again. "I guess," she said, resigned. She pulled Paige close and they started kissing again. Once again, things got heated. Hanna stood up. "I should probably get going," she sighed sadly. They had taken a big enough risk as it was, making out that intensely under Paige's parents' noses, with the open door.

Paige got up and found her shoes. "I'll walk you home," she volunteered. Hanna knew that she should decline Paige's offer, but she didn't want to. Instead, she rewarded her with a kiss, tickling her under the chin. "Thank you," she said, not just for the offer, but for being there when she was upset about her mother.

As they walked, hand in hand, down Crescent Street, Hanna saw Emily and her girlfriend rounding the corner a block and a half away, headed in their direction.

_Shit! Could there be any more obstacles tonight?_

Something maternal and protective in Hanna kicked in on a subconscious level. Without thinking, she pressed Paige up against the wall in the alley next to The Brew and began picking up where they had left off in Paige's bedroom. At first, it was hard for Hanna to manufacture the passion that she had felt in the afterglow of the words that they had shared on Paige's bed, but, once she got going and Paige started returning her kisses, her body took over on autopilot.

"Ooh, somebody's a little impatient," Paige teased. Hanna, who had gotten herself pretty worked up, slipped her hand between Paige's thighs, turning Paige's teasing into a helpless gasp. "Oh, God," Paige moaned, no longer caring that they were out in public. Hanna, for her part, had forgotten the reason she had pulled Paige into that alley in the first place. Her kisses became longer and more heated, straying from Paige's lips to her neck, with the occasional nibble of Paige's earlobe. She undid Paige's jeans and was maneuvering her hands purposefully inside Paige's soaked underwear. Paige banged her head against the brick wall behind her as her hands clawed around between the downspout and the dumpster, desperately searching for something to cling to. Hanna, a little amazed that she could have this effect on Paige, only intensified the movements of her hand.

Once Paige made it back to earth and collected herself, she was determined to get back to Hanna's place. It didn't matter that she would have to make conversation with Hanna's mother; she knew that she had to spend the night in Hanna's bed. Paige had only expected to be gone for ten minutes or so – only long enough to make the round trip to Hanna's house. She hadn't finished studying or even bothered to turn off the lights in her bedroom. And she hadn't let her parents know where she was going. There would be consequences in the morning. But that didn't matter in the heat of the night.

* * *

Ashley Marin poured the girls coffee as they sat at her kitchen bar. Paige assumed that it was intentional; Ashley was messing with them; making them wait to get back to what they were doing. Paige could handle that. She was an athlete; she knew about delayed gratification, putting in the hours in the pool and in the gym for a reward that was far into the future. That only made the reward sweeter. But, in the pool and the gym, she had never had to deal with Hanna's persistent teasing.

Hanna, out of her mother's sight, rubbed her leg against Paige's underneath the counter. Paige put her hand on Hanna's thigh and stroked it gently. She could feel the heat. When Hanna grabbed Paige's hand, Paige assumed it was to get her to stop, but, instead, Hanna took Paige's index finger and used it to write letters on her thigh:

 **i** (Hanna moved Paige's finger to form a lowercase "I" and to put a dot on it)

**am**

**so**

**wet**

**4u**

Hanna's grip was firm, but her skin was soft and smooth underneath Paige's finger. Paige set down her coffee cup, to hide the fact that her hand was trembling.

"So, Paige," Ashley said at last, "are you spending the night?"

Paige cleared her throat before she spoke, but her voice came out steady and unhalting, much to her surprise. "Yes, I am." Hanna brushed the hair away from Paige's cheek and kissed it from the side, excited for the rest of the night, but also proud at how confidently Paige had answered. She didn't realize that she was responsible for Paige's confidence. All of the touching and flirting had served to strengthen her resolve.

* * *

Paige held Hanna close, once their bodies had gotten all that they needed of each other. Hanna turned out the light.

"I saw Emily round that corner, you know," Paige husked softly.

Hanna went to turn towards her, but Paige held her in place. "You did?" She felt Paige nod against the back of her neck.

"I know what you were trying to do, and I appreciate it. But you don't have to protect me from her."

"I know… I just…" Hanna attempted to turn and face Paige again. This time, Paige didn't stop her. "Not tonight," Hanna said, stroking Paige's hair. "We didn't need that tonight."

* * *

"I love this little bed," Paige said, just as Hanna was almost asleep. "It's so cozy."

Hanna turned around and gave Paige's nipple a twist. "Don't make fun, just because we don't all have huge, king sized beds like yours!"

"Ow!" Paige moaned. "I'm serious! I love your bed. It's great for cuddling!"

"Oh." Hanna turned around again. "Oh, well, okay then." She leaned back into Paige, shimmying into position against Paige's big spoon. "You know what I like best about this bed?" she whispered

"What?"

Hanna flipped over again and gave Paige a kiss. "You're in it."

Hanna tried to turn over again, but Paige held her in place, kissing her first softly, then deeply.

"You're not going to let me get any sleep at all tonight, are you, Paige McCullers?"

" 'Paige McCullers?' " Paige snickered.

"Yes. That's still your name, isn't it?"

"Yeah, but…" Paige dipped her head. "I just… I remember when it used to be 'Paigey.'"

"I know," Hanna said playing with Paige's hair. "But I know how much you hate that name, so…" She shrugged slightly.

Paige tilted her head with a slight smile. "Yeah, but…" She let it drop, but Hanna looked insistently into her eyes. "I don't know – it was kind of our thing. No one else ever dared call me that. It was kind of nice to have something that was just ours." Paige looked off to the side rather than into Hanna' eyes after that admission.

"Aww, Paigey!" Hanna's voice was high-pitched and eager. She grabbed Paige by the chin and shook it, as she might have done with her three-year-old cousin. "Who's my little Paigey-waigey, cuddly-pooh?"

Paige swatted her hand away. "All right, never mind." Hanna giggled, pumping her fist triumphantly. "And, by the way," Paige deadpanned, laying a hand on Hanna's cheek, "to answer your question: No, I'm not going to let you get any sleep tonight." She kissed Hanna's lips. "Not as long as you keep pushing my buttons!"

"Oh, I'm pushing your buttons, am I?" Hanna snaked her hands under the sheets, using one to hold the sheet up and the other to poke with. "Let's see whether I can find the Paige McCullers button!" She poked every spot where she'd learned that Paige was ticklish. Paige shrieked, helpless against Hanna's assault, and, in a matter of seconds, found herself gasping for air as she futilely begged for mercy. Finally, Hanna touched another spot that she'd learned about, and Paige started gasping for an entirely different reason. "Oh ho!" Hanna said with a devious smirk. "Ladies and gentlemen, I think we've found the Paige McCullers button!"

She had. Paige was no longer playing. She pulled Hanna on top of her and moved Hanna's hand back to the spot that had started all the fuss in the first place. "Oh yeah," Hanna cooed seductively, "we've definitely found the Paige McCullers button!"

* * *

Paige and Hanna giggled their way down the stairs, playfully swatting at each other in the morning. The playfulness ended abruptly when Paige caught sight of Ashley in the kitchen. She suddenly became conscious of her wet hair and of the fact that she was wearing Hanna's sweats. Hanna rolled her eyes at Paige's sudden shyness. She took her hand casually and dragged her into the kitchen.

"Good morning, girls," Ashley said with a genuine smile.

Paige and Hanna spoke at the same time:

"Hi, Mom."  
"Good morning, Mrs. Marin."

Ashley shook her head at Page's inability to make eye contact with her. It would've been so easy to play with Paige, like a mouse with a kitten, but she resisted the temptation. She knew that there was something special between her daughter and Paige. After all, the night before, Hanna had run out of the house angry and upset, and, within less than an hour, had returned, with Paige, calm and collected. Paige, she thought, might be just what Hanna needed; for the moment, at least. Ashley still wasn't able to believe that her daughter was finished with men for good.


	10. The Netflix System

"Hey, Paige." Hanna's voice held a subtle hint of how excited she was to see her girlfriend. She linked their arms as they walked up to the barista and placed their orders. They held hands as well as coffees as they walked to their booth. Hanna held on to Paige's hand after they sat, scrutinizing it with both her eyes and her fingers.

"You should let me paint your nails!" she declared, excited.

"Oh yeah," Paige chuckled. "That's what I should do."

"I'm serious," Hanna insisted, stroking the pad of her index finger against each of Paige's fingernails in turn.

"Hanna, I'm not a paint-your-nails kind of girl. I'm more a bite-your-nails kind of girl."

Hanna rolled her eyes. "God – all those times I envied Emily for dating a girl," she lamented. "If only I'd known..."

"So, you thought dating a girl meant having a little Barbie doll to play with and dress up?"

"Uh, no, Paige... that's what having a _daughter_ means!" Hanna's tone told Paige that she was only kidding, but Paige rolled her eyes at the comment anyway.

Hanna stroked the back of Paige's hand. "I just thought that all girls like to have their nails done, like to go shopping, like to… I don't know – do girl things!" She smiled shyly.

"I love doing girl things - like, playing field hockey, and doing better than the guys at math. And..." Paige leaned in and gave Hanna a peck on the lips. "...you. You're definitely the girliest thing I ever do."

Hanna stroked Paige's cheek affectionately. "Okay, I get it, those are all girl-things, and I'm glad that you love doing them. Especially me. But, come on - what girl doesn't like having nice nails?"

Paige sighed. "Well, you know, it's not really practical for me to get my nails done."

"Duh!" Hanna lifted her hands at the obviousness of Paige's statement. "Lesbians have short nails, I get it! That doesn't mean those nails can't look pretty!"

"No, I'm not even talking about short nails. What I mean is, with field hockey, my nails take so much abuse, there's no sense spending a lot of time trying to make them look pretty."

"Okay, well, first of all, I know that it's not field hockey season, and, second, Spencer plays field hockey, and I know that she gets her nails done."

"Yeah, well." Paige scoffed slightly and shook her head rather than continue. Hanna gave her a look, prompting her to finish the thought. "Spencer is… You know. She's a bit…" Paige tilted her head back, trying to come up with a diplomatic way of saying it. "... _dainty._ I mean," she blurted out quickly, "she's a hell of a field hockey player, don't get me wrong. But she plays it like a rich girl, you know? Not like an 'jock.'"

Hanna wasn't really listening to Paige's assessment. She was doing an assessment of her own, examining Paige's nails and coming up with a mental plan for them. She shared the plan with Paige, but Paige was unconvinced. "I really need the practice," Hanna pleaded.

"Practice?" Hanna nodded. "Since when do you want to be a manicurist? I thought you wanted to be a fashion designer."

"Paige." Hanna's voice was condescending. "Being a designer means more than just slapping outfits on models and shoving them down the runway. You have to be able to deal with real people, with real egos and real insecurities. You have to make them feel pretty, if you expect them to make your clothes look pretty. And you have to learn how to be very persuasive."

Paige took a moment to appreciate her girlfriend, amazed at how much Hanna knew about her chosen profession, and how well-suited she was for it. "Well, you're persuasive," she concluded. "I'll give you that!"

"Damn right I am! How do you think I got Caleb to let me practice on his nails?"

"Oh, no you did not!" Paige huffed skeptically.

"Yes, I did!" Hanna insisted. "But guys are easy," she said, her voice suddenly deeper. She placed her hand on Paige's cheek and leaned in so that Paige could feel the brush of her breath against her skin. "You just have to touch their cheek a certain way and give them a long, soulful look, and tell them how much nicer they'd look with their nails properly trimmed, and give them a soft kiss" – Hanna kissed Paige's lips – "and say" - her voice became soft and pleading - "'It's just a clear coat… no one will ever know… and you would _really_ be helping me out.'" Hanna was biting her lip, flashing puppy-dog eyes at Paige.

Paige dipped her head. "Okay," she husked weakly.

"Really?" Hanna's voice was suddenly high-pitched, and her entire face was smiling.

"Yes, really. Yes, please."

Hanna put her hands on either side of Paige's head and pulled her in for a kiss. "Paigey!" Seeing that her girlfriend wasn't as enthusiastic as she was, Hanna, her hands still cradling Paige's face, stroked her thumb up and down Paige's ear. "You can say no, if you want," she said soothingly.

"Hanna, if there's anything we've learned from this relationship, it's that I can't say no to you!"

"Yay!" Hanna croaked triumphantly, tapping her palm against Paige's cheeks before retrieving an emery board from her purse.

"What, right now?" Paige exclaimed, surprised. "Right here?"

Hanna shrugged her shoulders, not getting what the big deal was.

"That's so..." - Paige's voice shifted to a whisper - "unsanitary!"

Hanna saw the way Paige looked around at the other tables when she said it, and realized that the real reason for Paige's hesitation was that she didn't want to do it in front of everybody there at The Brew. "Fine," she conceded. "We can do it when we get back to your place. Put that ginormous bed of yours to good use!"

"Oh, I think we get pretty good use out of that 'ginormous' bed of mine..."

"Not when Warden Nick is there," Hanna scoffed. She put a hand to the side of her mouth like a megaphone and barked, "Door!"

"Yeah," Paige chuckled sympathetically. "Actually, my Dad will probably be excited that you're painting my nails. He'll probably think it makes me more girly."

"Or that it's some kind of lesbian foreplay..."

"Wait, you mean it's not?" Paige widened her eyes and clutched her chest in mock surprise. "So, why am I letting you do my nails, then?"

"Because you love me so much," Hanna said, leaning in for a kiss.

Paige sighed contentedly. "Yeah, I do," she said with a wistful smile.

Hanna took Paige's hand, palm-up, and gently stroked her thumb across the fingertips. Gazing intensely into Paige's eyes, her voice low and seductive, she added, "And because you know that it really _is_ foreplay."

* * *

"Paige?" Hanna began, as she applied another layer towards the ombré effect she was doing on Paige's nails. It wasn't Paige's thing, and Paige knew that she'd have some explaining to do in the locker room, but it was relatively tasteful and understated, for Hanna, at least. It could've been a whole lot worse, Paige thought. Hanna could've pulled out the glitter or gone for some splashy or psychedelic effect. But Paige trusted her. After all, as Hanna had said, in her chosen field, she had to be good at making people feel at ease. That's what Hanna had done since the beginning of their time together;- gently eased Paige out of her shell.

"Yeah?" Paige replied, without looking up.

"Do you remember when I asked you how you'd feel if your daughter dated a boy?"

"Yeah. What was that all about?"

Hanna sighed, not taking her eyes off of the nail that she was working on, with quick but precise strokes. "It's my Mom."

Paige paused, waiting for Hanna to elaborate, but Hanna kept silent. "Your mom?"

"Mm hmm." Hanna stopped what she was doing and dipped the brush repeatedly into its jar, obviously unsettled. "I mean, I know that she loves me. And, she loves you, too, Paige, I swear. Like, back since when you and Emily were together."

"I know," Paige assured her.

Hanna breathed deeply, capping the polish and setting it off to the side, although she wasn't finished with Paige's nails. "And it's not as if she's homophobic. I know that for a fact," she said, looking Paige in the eye. "But it's just... I don't know. I guess it's fine for everyone else, but that's not what she expected from me."

"Huh." Paige was reluctant to jump in, not wanting to get in the middle of a family issue.

Hanna uncapped the polish and went back to work on Paige's nails again. Neither of them said anything for a minute or so.

"I guess it's just that she always saw a certain life for me, you know? I would grow up to be the prettiest princess, marry the handsome prince, raise the perfect family: a dashing dark-haired boy and a beautiful blonde girl." Hanna chuckled weakly.

"She's... trying to live her dreams through you?"

"Maybe," Hanna said sadly with a shrug. "You know, it's an awful lot of pressure, when you're a kid. I knew that my Mom loved me, of course, but she always gave me these subtle digs about how thin I should be, or how perfect my clothes should be, or how blonde my hair should be." Paige used her free hand to stroke Hanna's cheek. She, too, knew about parental pressure, and parents trying to live their dreams through her. "I think that's one of the reasons that I got so interested in fashion."

"You wanted to live in that world?"

"No." Hanna smiled. "I wanted to create a safe place for girls and women who felt the same kind of pressure that I did to be perfect. I wanted them to have a place where they realized that what they were was enough. That they were thin enough, strong enough, smart enough, beautiful enough, confident enough."

Paige kissed Hanna's temple. "That's a beautiful dream."

Hanna smiled at Paige, enjoying the moment in silence for a bit before she continued. "My Mom hasn't said anything," she said, her eyes focused like a laser on the nail she was polishing, "but I think she still thinks that I'm going to 'come to my senses.' You know, go off to fashion school, meet the right guy, remember what I've been missing..." Hanna turned her head towards Paige and smiled weakly.

"Well," Paige said, drawing out the word, "we haven't really ever talked about that, have we? I mean, I'm still planning to go to Stanford next year. And I know you're heading to New York."

"So?" Hanna capped the bottle of polish again and stroked her hand underneath Paige's hair, letting it rest on her ear. "Four thousand miles isn't that far. Not when we've got phones and e-mail and Skype. And four years isn't very long. It's not as if I'll never see you during those times." Paige bit her lip, surprised not so much that Emily had shared that conversation on the dock with Hanna, but that Hanna recalled it. "Doesn't Stanford have any swim meets on the East Coast?"

"Not really," Paige said sadly. "Not unless the NCAA finals are out here."

"Well, you're coming home for Christmas and the summers, right?"

"Absolutely," Paige said eagerly. "I mean, I'll be training over the summers, but I'll have at least a couple of weeks at home."

"And I'm sure I'll get out to Cali. LA's big in the fashion world."

Paige frowned. "Wrong half of the state."

"Well, LA's closer than New York!"

"True." Paige nodded. "I could definitely make it down to LA."

"And there's a fashion scene in San Fran, too."

"Yeah, I guess."

Hanna noticed that Paige wasn't making eye contact. "Unless that's not what you want?"

"No, I... Hanna..."

"Paige," Hanna said firmly. "You need to be honest with me."

"Okay, honestly?" Paige sighed. "I guess... I was trying to give you an out." Hanna scrunched her forehead. "I guess I'm just used to..."

As Paige considered her word-choice, Hanna interrupted. "You know, I love Emily, Paige. You _know_ I do." Hanna inhaled deeply. "But sometimes, I really hate what she did to you."

Paige dipped her head. "You can't blame Emily for that."

"Maybe not." That wasn't the point that Hanna felt like arguing. "But, Paige, I need you to be honest with me. I see us together in the future, no matter what happens in the next four years. If that's not what you see, I can accept that, and we can be happy for what we've got now and make the most out of the rest of the time we have together. But I need you..."

Paige put her hands on Hanna's cheeks and interrupted her with a long, determined kiss, being careful not to smudge her polish on Hanna's hair and ruin all of Hanna's hard work. "Yes," she rasped in a low, reassuring voice. "I see that, too. I want that, too. I love you, Hanna."

Hanna smiled. "I love you, too." Paige kissed her again. Hanna let out a relieved, contented breath as their foreheads met. "I see you and Emily as friends together, too," she said, softly and hopefully. "Not now," she added quickly. "Not even soon, maybe. But someday?"

Paige tilted her forehead away from Hanna and rotated her neck in a circle, as if stretching after a workout. She didn't say anything, but the look on her face said everything.

"I get it, Paige," Hanna said, nodding her head slightly. "Honestly, I do. It's just..." Hanna put her hands on Paige's shoulders and rubbed them down to her elbows. "She misses you. And, to be honest, I miss the two of you, too."

Paige's face tightened up. "Too soon," she said, in a deep, angry rumble.

Hanna put her hand behind Paige's neck and pulled her into a hug. "I know. I'm sorry. I wasn't talking about anytime soon," she whispered, giving Paige an apologetic kiss. "Are you mad at me, now?"

Paige managed a weak smile and mouthed the word "no."

"Are you sure?" Hanna tilted her head as she gazed intently in Paige's eyes.

"I'm sure," Paige assured her. "I'm not mad." Hanna smiled and leaned in for a kiss, but Paige pulled away. "Just don't pull one of those, 'Oops! I didn't know that Emily was going to be here!' surprise meetings, okay?"

"Paige, I would never," Hanna assured her, even though Paige was half-joking. "You know that, right?"

"I know that," Paige said, barely audibly.

Hanna was confident that she would get the two of them back to being friends. But there was no hurry. She had waited Paige out in the dark days after the break-up, gently prodding her when it was appropriate, but giving her space when she needed. It was going to take that same kind of delicate but persistent balancing act to get Paige back to a place where she and Emily could be friends. It was a place, Hanna felt, that, deep down, Paige really wanted to get back to.

* * *

Hanna slid forward on the bed, aligning her body with Paige's, breast to breast. Her foreplay promise had come delightfully true. She put her hands, one on top of the other, on Paige's chest and rested her chin on top of them. Paige had a hand behind her head on the pillow as she looked up at her girlfriend. Her other hand was rubbing Hanna's back, keeping her close.

"Remember the first time I saw your boobs?" Hanna's head rose up and down with each syllable. Paige felt its movement against her sternum.

"How could I forget that night?" Paige mused fondly.

Hanna took her right hand out from underneath the pile on top of Paige's chest and stroked her cheek with it. "Don't get mad, but... I really... kind of... wanted to see them."

"Yeah?" Paige was wearing the smile that she always seemed to wear when Hanna was talking to her.

"Yeah. I mean, I've seen hundreds of boobs, Paige." Hanna lifted her head off of Paige's chest and raised her eyebrows for effect as she repeated, " _Hundreds._ I've sketched them... I've taken classes on them..."

"You've taken classes on... breasts?"

Hanna nodded, relaxing her head on top of her hands again. "How to design for them. You know, how to accentuate them, or minimize them; make them flirtatious or business-like."

"Wow." Paige was genuinely amazed. "Boobs 101."

"Don't get me wrong. I mean, I really did want to see them, but, let's be honest: Your bra definitely wasn't working with that top," she said derisively. "Still..." She scrunched up her nose. "Was that a violation?"

Paige laughed out loud. "Oh, yeah! Of course it was!"

"Sorry?" Hanna gave her puppy-dog eyes, batting her eyelids.

"It's fine," Paige whispered, gently stroking Hanna's hair. "I have no complaints about that night."

"And now," Hanna said, sitting up astride Paige, leaving Paige's breasts in full view, "now, I get to see them whenever I want. How lucky am I?"

Paige put her hands on Hanna's thighs and rubbed them gently. "Luck didn't have anything to do with it. You earned it. You don't strike me as the kind of person who relies on luck, Hanna. You work hard. And, as Coach Fulton always remind us, if you put the work in, the results will follow."

"Mmm," Hanna intoned, acknowledging Paige's point. "I still say I'm lucky. We both are. Out of all the billions of people in this world, what are the chances we would find love together, in tiny little Rosewood?"

Paige looked up at the beautiful creature sitting naked astride her, as Hanna looked down at her with pure love in her eyes. She certainly felt lucky.

* * *

**Epilogue**

"Hey, Paige!" Hanna leaned over towards Paige and nudged her in the ribs, gesturing with her head. "Check it out! Bridget Wu went back to her natural hair color!"

Paige looked up, doing her best to stifle a laugh when she saw Bridget Wu's hair, dyed lime green and bleached white at the top. "Hanna," she chided softly through a smile.

"What? It's nothing I wouldn't say to her face!"

"Yeah, knowing you, I bet you actually would say it to her face."

"Actually," Hanna said theatrically, "I already did."

"Oh, you did, did you?" Paige knew that Hanna was just pulling her leg.

Hanna nodded, smiling mischievously. "And do you know what she said when I asked whether the carpet matched the drapes?"

Paige rolled her eyes, anticipating whatever outrageous joke Hanna was about to make. "What did she say," she asked in a perfunctory, dry monotone.

"She said, 'What carpet?'"

"Hanna!" Paige reflexively slapped Hanna on the shoulder. "What the hell is wrong with you?" she asked through a broad smile.

"You know, because there _is_ no carpet," Hanna explained needlessly, wanting to milk her joke a little bit more.

"I know what you meant, Hanna."

"There is no carpet!" Hanna repeated for effect.

Paige shook her head. "You're such a sitcom."

"I'm a _sitcom_?"

"Yes," Paige asserted, "you're a sitcom."

"Is this about Hannah Montana? Because I thought I'd heard the last of that in middle school."

"No," Paige replied. Hanna leaned forward in curiosity as Paige explained, "Okay, I've been doing this thing where I assign Netflix categories to people. So, you're a sitcom: A bunch of hilarious situations, with random shit going down, a ton of laughs, and an ending that makes everybody feel warm and happy." Paige extended her hands in a "Ta-da!" gesture.

"And you do this for everybody?"

Paige shrugged. "Pretty much, yeah."

"So, Spencer is…"

"A detective story."

Hanna fired off more names, in rapid succession, nodding her head or furrowing her brow as she considered Paige's responses.

"Aria?"

"Hallmark romance."

"Mona?"

"Psychological thriller."

"Caleb?"

"SciFi/Fantasy."

"Emily?"

"Soap opera."

Hanna tilted her head, nodding in agreement. "Yeah, I could see that." She bit her lip. Paige leaned a little closer, prompting her to say what was on her mind. "Do you... think you can ever forgive her?"

Paige leaned back, blowing out a deep breath of air. It seemed Paige couldn't even mention Emily's name without Hanna reminding her that they needed to be friends again. Paige stayed silent until her facial muscles relaxed. "I forgive her," she said at last. "I've forgiven her."

"Good," Hanna said, grasping Paige's hands, which were balled into loose fists. "Because holding on to resentment only hurts you," she pointed out.

"I forgave her," Paige said, matter-of-factly.

"But..." Hanna prodded.

Paige shook her head slowly. "Not as long as she's with that blonde psycho."

"Hey!" Hanna grabbed Paige's arm, to lighten the mood. "Not all of us are bimbos, you know!"

Paige raised her hands in surrender. "Present company excluded," she said with a laugh.

"Maybe I should go brunette." Hanna tugged out a couple of strands of her hair to look at them. "What do you think?"

"I think you'd be gorgeous whatever hair color you choose."

Hanna smiled, moving her hand onto Paige's cheek. After it landed there, she stroked her fingers through Paige's hair a couple of times. "I could totally see you as a blonde."

"Oh really?" Paige smiled gamely.

"Yeah, maybe cut it to shoulder length and go platinum, with a touch of curl."

Paige grinned, shaking her head. "That would be too weird."

"What's so weird about that?"

"You, remaking me into your own image."

Hanna opened her mouth to say something but simply breathed out instead. She curled her face into a frown. "You're right, that would be weird. It'd be like dating myself. Which would be awesome," she teased, "but kind of selfish, not to share both of me with the rest of the world."

A silence hung between as Hanna tried to get back to her earlier point. "And speaking of dating blondes..." Paige furrowed her eyebrows, not sure where Hanna was going. "I get why you'd want to stay away from Emily, but I don't think..." She sighed. "I'm not saying you need to make nice with Alison. But, as I said, by punishing Emily, you're only hurting yourself." She quickly grabbed Paige's hand, hoping to assuage any hurt feelings.

Paige turned their hands over, tightening the grip slightly. "Hanna, I'm not doing it to punish her. I'm doing it to..." Paige exhaled deeply, shaking her head. "Look, if I'm back in Emily's life, we both know what that'll do to her girlfriend." Hanna nodded. "I just think it's best for Emily if I lay low." Paige took Hanna's other hand and leaned in close, tilting her head. "Maybe you could let Emily know that's why?"

Hanna nodded. "Of course," she whispered. A moment later, she chuckled, half scoffing. "And I guess I don't have to ask what the blonde psycho's Netflix type is..." Hanna gestured dramatically with her hands, spreading her fingers out wide. "Horror!"

"Yeah, right," Paige said with a laugh. "One of those zombie films where the villain just refuses to die..."

"Mmm," Hanna intoned sympathetically. She took Paige's fingers, rocking them back and forth. "So..." She tilted her head, letting it rest on her own shoulder, and smiled coyly. "What category are you?"

"What category am I?" Hanna nodded, her head still resting on her shoulder. "Well." Paige cleared her throat. "I've always thought of myself as drama," Paige replied. "But I think that my story's being told differently now." Paige shifted in her seat, looking up at the sky as she thought it over. "Did you ever watch the Mary Tyler Moore show?" Hanna nodded. "So, you remember Lou Grant. Now, Ed Asner was not a comedic actor before that show, but his character was one of the funniest ones in the cast. Anyway, after the show ended, the network gave him his own show, 'Lou Grant,' but it was a drama, instead of a sitcom. It was the same character, the same life, only, in the spin-off, the story was told as a drama. So, I think I'm a drama, by myself. But, when I'm with you, my story becomes a sitcom."

"So that makes me Mary Tyler Moore?"

"I guess," Paige said with a shrug.

"Good answer," Hanna said, touching her index finger to Paige's forearm, to let her know that she was kidding. "Because she was hella thin!"

Paige rolled her eyes, smiling wistfully. "She made life fun," she husked softly, pulling Hanna in for a kiss. "Just like you."

"Aww..." Hanna gave Paige a hug, kissing her as they parted.

"It hurts me when you joke like that," Paige admitted softly.

"I know," Hanna said, dipping her head - a maneuver she'd picked up from her girlfriend. "I don't really think that way. Not anymore. It's just... the jokes are just force of habit, I guess." Paige frowned, but nodded her head. "Caleb never made me feel that way," Hanna added urgently, not wanting Paige to blame her ex for her insecurities. "He made me feel... the way you make me feel. Like a blonde bombshell." Hanna smiled shyly.

"Like Marilyn Monroe!"

"Like Marilyn Monroe," Hanna giggled, rubbing Paige's arm. "You remembered."

Paige's head tilted backwards in laughter. "As if I could ever forget that night!"

"You and Emily were the wedding cake from outer space!" Hanna kissed Paige as they enjoyed the memory. As much as they were going through back then, it somehow seemed a simpler time, through the filtered lens of nostalgia.

When they finished their lunch, Paige stood up and helped Hanna to her feet, welcoming her with a kiss. Hanna stopped as they passed the table where Bridget Wu was sitting. "Hey, girl," she said, giving Bridget a hug and Paige a wink. "I see you went back to your natural hair color!"

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N - Yes, I know it's kind of an abrupt way to end their story. Sorry. To be honest, I'm not really sure how their story ends, so I thought it best to leave some room for you all to fill in the blanks as you see fit. (I'd love to hear where you think their story goes, if you'd care to let me know in a review or a PM...)
> 
> Thank you so much for indulging me as I got this out of my system. I know that many of my readers are hardcore Paily fans (like me), and the fact that you were willing to take a change on this story (and that you made it this far) means the world to me.
> 
> I honestly love you all! 3

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Thanks for giving this story a chance! :)
> 
> Why Panna? Well, for a long time, I've had a problem with what the show turned Emily's character into... the serial dating; and the way she takes Paige for granted. I've wished that Paige could have something carefree, without all the drama, with someone fun. Someone like Hanna.
> 
> But, in the end, it was a movie, "ToY," that gave me the motivation to go from those thoughts into an actual fic. It's a very (very!) dark movie, but, right in the middle, it has about 15 minutes of a terribly cute relationship between the two protagonists... so cute that it made me want to start writing again.
> 
> Disclaimer: I never really watched PLL, so I mostly know Hanna's character from (mostly Paily) fan fiction. If you're reading this because you're a Hanna Marin fan, I apologize for getting her character wrong.
> 
> Oh - and the song on Paige's depression playlist was "You were meant for me," by Jewel. :)


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